Gay Does Not Just Mean Happy
by mdelpin
Summary: Master Bob's friend has been murdered by a group that has been targeting gay Blue Pegasus customers. Frustrated with the lack of progress in the investigation he reaches out to Fairy Tail for help. Natsu and Gray travel to Blue Pegasus and pretend to be a couple to draw out the group. They soon begin to question their feelings for each other. Could they be more than friends?
1. The Job Request

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

Chapter 1: The Job Request

Gray stared in open mouthed surprise at the sharply dressed bald man that walked past him seemingly on his way to see Master Makarov. He got a cup of hot cocoa from Mira and went to join the rest of his team at their regular table.

"Am I crazy or was that Master Bob?", Gray asked still not sure if that man could be the same as the boxer and winged cami wearing Master from Blue Pegasus.

The rest of his team looked at him with interest. They had been examining a job request and had not noticed anyone coming in.

"The weird guy from Blue Pegasus?", Natsu asked with a shudder.

"Which one?", snorted Happy.

"That's not very nice.", Lucy chided them.

"What? The way he looks at me makes me feel weird.", Natsu answered.

"He's not wrong.", Gray agreed with him, "At least he's better than Ichiya."

Natsu and Gray both shuddered at the thought of Ichiya and his special brand of strangeness. Erza looked like she wanted to hide under the table just in case the leader of the Trimens had joined his Master for this rather unusual visit.

"I wonder what he wants with our Master.", Erza looked at the Master's closed door intently. She couldn't remember another time that Master Bob had visited their guild.

xxx

"Bob? What brings you here?", Makarov greeted his old friend. He ushered him into his office and asked Mira to bring them some refreshments. He immediately noticed the clothes his friend was wearing and his serious expression.

"I was just in town and decided to stop by. No special reason.", Bob said unconvincingly. He sat quietly looking at his old friend and wondering whether he really wanted to do this. He knew that he was very upset at the moment and that he might very well regret his actions later.

"Well, it's always good to visit with an old friend. Would you like me to call Goldmine? We could go out for some drinks.". Makarov offered and noting Bob's flinch quickly added, "or we could stay here."

"Maybe later, I don't feel up to keeping up with that wild man.", Bob replied attempting to inject some levity to the conversation.

By this point Makarov's curiosity was killing him. He was also slightly concerned, Bob almost never came to Fairy Tail if he could help it. There was clearly something going on with his friend and he did not know how to get it out of him.

Mira knocked on the door and brought in their refreshments including a bottle of expensive scotch for them to share. She left quickly sensing the mood in the room and closed the door behind her. There was no sense in trying to listen, Freed had placed sound proofing runes around the office years ago.

Makarov poured some scotch for both of them and watched as Bob downed his glass and stared at Makarov. He slammed the glass down on the desk and seemed to make up his mind.

"I was at a funeral today.", Bob began. Makarov made to interrupt but Bob waved him off. "It was for an old friend. We had been friends for over twenty years and now he's gone, just like that."

Makarov refilled his glass and asked casually, "Was he ill?"

Bob grabbed his drink and snorted. "No, he was healthy as an ox. He took very good care of himself."

Bob sniffled and wiped his eyes. Makarov grunted in frustration. He was not a patient man by nature. He wished his friend would just come out and say whatever he was here for so that he could set about trying to fix it.

"He had come to Blue Pegasus a few nights ago to see me and he was attacked after he left the club. Some men used a mazer on him to drain him of his magic and then beat him to death. Witnesses say that they were screaming homophobic slurs at him as they hit him."

"Maki", Bob said with a pained expression, "they killed him because he was gay."

It was Makarov's turn to down his drink. He could see the raw anger in his friend's eyes and it saddened him. Bob had always been a gentle soul, even when they had been in a team together.

"It isn't the first attack that has happened outside of Blue Pegasus, but it's the first one that has resulted in a death. The victims have all been gay or bisexual men, We're not known as a gay bar but we are very accepting and we have good drinks and entertainment."

"I don't want to bury any more of my friends, Maki. I want the attacks to stop. The Rune Knights have been investigating the attacks for weeks now but they haven't gotten anywhere yet."

Bob looked at Makarov with a determined expression.

"Blue Pegasus can't be involved directly. That's why I want to post a job request for Fairy Tail. I will offer whatever reward you think is reasonable. I want you to catch those guys and make them pay for what they have done."

"My mages aren't killers, Bob. You know that. It's not the Fairy Tail way.", Makarov said seriously.

"I don't care what they do as long as the people responsible for this are punished. I'm not sure how they are picking their victims but I think they must have someone inside the club scouting for victims."

"Are you sure this is what your friend would want you to do?"

"He wasn't just my friend Maki, we were partners once. He deserved better than this. Will you do this for me, old friend?"

Makarov thought about the request and he could not bring himself to deny it. "Did you have anyone in mind for this?"

"I was thinking of maybe Natsu and Gray. They're gay aren't they?"

Makarov laughed, "If they are, I don't think they know it yet."

"Oh, I just assumed with all their posturing that they were together.", Bob said feeling a little embarrassed at having made the assumption.

"That doesn't mean they wouldn't take the job if we explained the situation. They might very well be sympathetic. You are aware of how much destruction they are capable of, are you sure you want that at your club?"

"Buildings can be rebuilt, Maki. People's lives are not so easily put back together."

"Alright, tell me everything they need to know."

Makarov and Bob talked about the job request for another fifteen minutes and then moved on to other topics. The Fairy Tail Master could tell that his friend did not wish to be alone so when their conversation began to ebb they went out in search of Goldmine, the Quattro Cerberus Master.

xxx

A/N Ok, I admit the setup is sad but it would have to be something like that to get them to agree, the following chapters should not be. I have a few more chapters already written which I will post once I get a chance to edit them more. Let me know what you think. As always constructive criticism and feedback is appreciated.


	2. Gay Does Not Just Mean Happy, Natsu

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail characters belong to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 2: Gay Does Not Just Mean Happy, Natsu

"Natsu and Gray can I see you in my office please?", Makarov called out to the two mages from the second floor, "Actually Erza and Lucy, why don't you come too."

The two mages looked at their Master with interest and went up the stairs to find out what this was about. Erza and Lucy followed behind them.

Makarov waited until they had all entered their office before he began to speak.

"Lucy, could you be a dear and close the door behind you?", Lucy did as he requested and stood with the others.

Makarov looked at three of the most volatile mages in his guild and hoped that he was doing the right thing.

"As you might have noticed, Master Bob from Blue Pegasus was here yesterday. Blue Pegasus has been having some trouble and he wants to hire us for a job. I don't know if you know this but Bob was a member of Fairy Tail for many years. We were actually on a team together."

Makarov looked around his messy office trying to locate a framed picture that he kept. It was one of his few mementos from his younger days. He finally located it under some paperwork from the Magic Council that he had been avoiding. He grabbed the frame carefully and showed it to his brats. He pointed at a slim, handsome dark haired man wearing a fancy suit, much like what he was wearing yesterday.

"That's Bob. Here are some others you might recognize.", he pointed out the other mages in the picture, "There's Goldmine,Porlyusica, Yajima,Rob and myself."

"Wow, Master. You used to be a lot taller.", Natsu chuckled.

Makarov glared at him and then laughed, "Yeah, I guess I was."

"That's Bob?!", Gray, Lucy and Erza yelled in disbelief.

Makarov ignored them and continued. "There have been several attacks on gay men leaving the Blue Pegasus club. A few days ago, a man was attacked with a maser and beaten to death. Bob wants these attacks to stop. He thinks that there is someone inside the club watching and selecting victims so he wants us to try to find that person and the rest of the attackers and bring them to justice."

"He is offering a reward of 1,000,000 jewel as well as all the food and drink you consume at the club while you're there."

"We'll do it!", Natsu said with excitement, his mind already consumed with the thought of free food.

"Hang on Flame Brain, you don't even know what we'll have to do on this job.", Gray said fixing his gaze on Makarov. He had a feeling he knew where this was headed.

"Who cares? Free food!", Natsu said joyously.

"I care. What exactly does he want us to do?". Gray asked.

"He wants you to act as bait and when they try to attack you fight them and turn them in to the authorities."

"When you say act as bait you mean pretend to be gay. Can I ask why us?", Gray looked at Makarov seriously.

"Honestly? Bob thought you and Natsu were a couple."

Gray sputtered, "He thought what? Why would he think that?"

Makarov couldn't resist adding with a smirk, "Something about how you two are always showing off in front of the other."

Erza and Lucy snickered into their hands. Gray looked to Natsu for help and found him looking completely disinterested.

"Why aren't you more upset about this?", Gray asked Natsu.

"About what?", Natsu tried to tune back in to the conversation but honestly after the free food thing had been decided he had lost interest. He was happy to leave the planning to the others.

"The fact that Master Bob thought that you and I were gay."

"What's wrong with being gay? The world needs more gay people around. It keeps things from getting gloomy. I mean I try to make everyone around me gay every day.", Natsu declared.

Erza and Lucy's amused looks had now changed to confusion as they tried to interpret Natsu's statement in a way that made sense considering they had never seen him show romantic interest in anyone well….. ever.

"What in the hell are you talking about, you idiot?", Gray looked at his friend with exasperation, "Do you even know what being gay means?"

"Of course, I do.", Natsu replied, "It means to be happy."

"Natsu, how do you grow up in Fairy Tail and not know what being gay means?", Gray asked him while fighting the urge to smack his friend.

"I already told you what it means.", Natsu said with mounting irritation. He hated when Gray tried to make him look stupid in front of others.

"No, you moron. That's not what it means--", Gray started only to be interrupted by Erza.

"Let me.", Erza said, "Natsu, being gay is when two people of the same gender have romantic feelings for each other."

"Oh, you mean like Sting and Rogue.", Natsu nodded with understanding.

"Wait! Sting and Rogue are gay?", Lucy asked in disappointment. She had thought that Sting might have been interested in her.

Natsu nodded."I guess that's what they are. They're mates. Maybe Master Bob should have asked them to do the job instead?"

"No, Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus don't have much of a relationship. It would be strange if members of their guild started showing up at the club.", Makarov pointed out, "We are a known ally."

"So wait, Master Bob thinks that Gray and I are like Sting and Rogue?"

"Because personally I think I could do better than Ice Block.", Natsu said cockily.

"You wish.", Gray retorted, "You'd be lucky to get someone half as good as me."

"You wanna bet?", Natsu approached his rival with his fists at the ready.

"Oh, you're on!", Gray brought up his own fists to meet Natsu's.

"You will not be toying with people's emotions just to win a stupid bet!", Lucy yelled at them with such force that they quickly jumped away from each other.

"I agree, the only way this will work is if you act like a couple. That way you can keep an eye on each other while Lucy and I keep an eye on the customers. We need to take this seriously, these guys are using masers. One wrong move and you can be in serious trouble.", Erza added.

Makarov smiled at Erza gratefully, glad that she had caught on to his plan right away.

"So what do you say boys? Will you take the job?", Makarov asked looking from one to the other. He did not miss the looks that Natsu and Gray were exchanging. Natsu no longer looked convinced and Gray looked skittish as hell.

"How far would we have to take it?", Gray asked nervously.

"Only as far as you're comfortable.", Makarov said kindly.

"Can we have some time to talk about it?", Gray asked.

"Yes, but don't take too long. You have until the end of today to give me your answer.', Makarov replied.

Natsu and Gray nodded and left the office, both deep in thought.

"Do you think they'll do it, Master?", Erza asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine.", Makarov shrugged, "I think they might. They both hate injustice, I don't think that this situation will sit well with them."

Lucy and Erza were leaving the Master's office when they were stopped by his words.

"Lucy and Erza, you are not to try to influence their decision. This will be difficult for them, they need to decide on their own if they can handle it. Understood?"

"Understood, Master."

xxx

A/N I was going to wait longer to post the next chapter but I was overwhelmed by the positive response so I decided to publish this one sooner as a thank you! Thank you everyone for favorites, follows, kudos, comments and reviews.


	3. An Unexpected Double Date

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

Chapter 3: Unexpected Double Date

"What do you want to do about this request?", Gray asked Natsu carefully as they sat in his apartment, away from the two girls.

"I don't know, I feel bad for those men getting picked on for something they can't help but at the same time pretending to be a couple seems pretty far fetched."

"They're not getting picked on Natsu, they're being attacked.", Gray said seriously, "That guy dying might have been an accident but it also might have been them escalating. Other men could die if we don't put a stop to it."

Natsu thought about this for a while. Gray was right, these people needed their protection. He wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of having someone be hurt because he was uncomfortable pretending Gray was his boyfriend.

"Not to mention this is Blue Pegasus we're talking about. They looked for us for almost seven years after we disappeared. They never gave up on us. We owe them, big time."

Natsu had conveniently forgotten about that fact. Gray was right they owed Blue Pegasus a big debt, there was no way they could say no. He took a deep breath and before he could change his mind he asked the question that was looming ever present in his mind since he understood what was expected of them.

"What kinds of things would we have to do with each other?", Natsu asked looking very uncomfortable.

"I don't know. Hold hands probably. Hug and put our arms around each other occasionally. Kiss maybe? I don't think it would be more than that. Gramps said only what we feel comfortable doing. We would be the ones in control of how far we go. It's not like anyone's expecting us to make out in front of the whole club."

"It's more than that. We'd have to sell that we're into each other. Can we even be in the same room for more than twenty minutes without fighting?"

Gray thought about that. "Ugh, you're right, I don't think we can pull this off."

"How about this? There's a gay bar a couple of blocks from here. Why don't we go get a drink and get a feel for what would be expected of us?", Gray suggested, "We can decide then."

"Ok, I guess that's a good idea.", Natsu said.

They left Gray's apartment and made their way towards a small bar that Natsu was too nervous to even look at the name of before they entered.

Natsu didn't know what he had been expecting but he was surprised to see that it looked just like any other bar. Music was playing in the background, people were talking and laughing and drinking. It was nice. Most people sitting together were of the same gender. Some were holding hands and smiling at each other, others were swaying to the music. Still others were at the bar talking and laughing looking like they were trying to impress someone. He didn't see anything that was making him nervous yet, he could do this. That was until he looked in the back corner and noticed the two men kissing. One had longish raven hair in a high ponytail wearing dark clothing and looked oddly familiar from what little he could see of his face which was being blocked by a spiky blond haired head that was attached to a body that was wearing a blue fur trimmed vest and …... His dragon senses heard the soft moans and words that were being shared between the two. Oh my God!

"We have to go.", Natsu said urgently, turning towards the door they had just come through.

"What's wrong? We just got here. It's not so bad. No one's doing anything crazy.", Gray grabbed his hand to keep him from bolting out. He really wanted them to give this a try. He was determined to go ahead with the mission. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt and if he had to pretend to be something he was not he'd rather do it with Natsu, whom he trusted, than say Loke or Gajeel.

"You don't understand, we really have to go.", Natsu hissed and pulled hard on Gray's hand to get them out the door before the kissing couple noticed them.

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?", Gray yelled pulling Natsu's hand just as hard as his anger started to surface when all of a sudden he was interrupted by a familiar voice behind them.

"Natsu, Gray? What are you doing here?", Sting asked. He looked down at Natsu and Gray's clenched hands and immediately understood.

"You two are here on a……..date?", Sting looked at Natsu's red cheeks and smirked.

"I knew it! Didn't I tell you Rogue? You owe me 10,000 jewel", Sting grinned at his mate happily.

"I'm not so sure that's what's happening here.", Rogue muttered under his breath.

"NO! It's not what you think. We're--", Natsu sputtered his cheeks burning , part of him furious at Gray for putting them in this position and the rest of him wanting desperately to not insult his friends.

"Just nervous because this is our first date.", Gray smiled at Natsu, pointedly ignoring the heated glare the Fire Dragon Slayer was sending his way, internally enjoying his rival's discomfort.

"You don't have to leave just because we're here. You should totally join us at our table. We can double. It's not often we get to spend time with our friends like this. ", Sting said, the excitement on his face lighting up his features.

"Sure, we'd love to, as long as you don't feel we're interrupting.", Gray responded following Sting to their table.

Natsu looked at the puppy dog excitement in his friend's face and he cursed himself knowing that he was going to cave to his friend's happiness. Besides stupid Gray had already started heading towards the Dragon Slayer's table pulling Natsu along behind him. They all sat down and ordered drinks.

The conversation at the table was relaxed and Natsu was beginning to enjoy himself as they had so far avoided the topic of Gray and Natsu dating but of course that could not last forever. He could feel Rogue's eyes probing him while Sting was enthusiastically talking to Gray about missions and the Sabertooth guild. Natsu avoided Rogue's gaze as best he could and tried to include himself in the others conversation.

"So how did this come about?", Sting asked gesturing to the two Fairy Tail mages.

Natsu remained quiet and inwardly grinned when he finally saw Gray exhibit some discomfort at having to come up with a lie. His victory, however, was short lived as the son of a bitch turned to him and winked.

"Oh, I've always been drawn to Natsu's heat and passion.", Gray managed to say with a perfectly straight face even as he heard Natsu choke on his drink, "It just took me awhile to get the nerve to ask him out."

"I know what you mean, I was terrified of asking Rogue out. I was worried about what would happen to our friendship if he didn't feel the same way."

At this, Sting gave a Rogue a loving smile. It was clear that the white dragon slayer was smitten. Rogue returned the smile but he couldn't help glancing at Natsu, his concern mounting as he could easily tell the Fire Dragon Slayer was acting off.

"Does anyone else want a refill?", Rogue asked and they all agreed that they did, "Natsu, why don't you come with me to get them?"

"Uhm yeah, sure.", Natsu scratched the back of his head and followed Rogue towards the bar. The Shadow Dragon Slayer ordered them some drinks and considered his friend carefully as he waited for their order. Drinks in hand he took them to a quiet part of the bar and sat down.

"What are you doing?", Rogue asked.

"What do you mean?", Natsu tried to look Rogue in the eyes.

"Natsu, since when are you gay?"

"Uhm, Since today I guess."

"You are aware that gay does not mean happy?", Rogue asked drily.

"I am now.", Natsu managed to smile sheepishly.

"Natsu, that's not something you just decide one day. What is going on with you?", Rogue asked with concern, "Is Gray forcing you to do this?"

"Like that stripper could force me to do anything!", Natsu growled angrily.

"So you like him?", Rogue asked him, "Or is this some sort of experiment for you?"

"Uhm….I'm not sure what the right answer is here.", Natsu looked at Rogue in a way that let him know that he wasn't going to get anything more out of him.

"Fine,", Rogue waved his arms up in defeat, "I won't push, but you need to be careful. You have a nasty habit of getting attached to people and the two of you have been friends for a long time. I'd hate to see your relationship get ruined over experimentation."

They made their way back to their table with the drinks. All in all, Natsu had a good time minus the guilt he felt for misleading his friends. He'd have to apologize to them after this was all over. They all left the bar together and Sting and Rogue headed back to Sabertooth.

Natsu and Gray made their way back to Fairy Tail. As they walked quietly, Gray felt a little guilty. He knew he had pushed harder than what Natsu was ready for but he had needed him to see that it wasn't as big of a deal as he was making it out to be.

"So, are we doing this?", Gray finally asked, "We need to give Makarov our decision."

Natsu turned towards Gray his face finally showing the fury he felt. He punched Gray in the face and stormed off.

"What the hell was that for?", Gray chased after him in confusion, "Stop and talk to me."

"That was for making me lie to my friends, asshole.", Natsu yelled, "I wanted to leave before they saw us so that I wouldn't have to but you couldn't listen to me, could you? You thought it was so funny but did you think about how disappointed and hurt they're going to feel when they find out we were just pretending?"

"To answer your question, yes we're doing this.", Natsu said seriously, "This evening made the situation very clear and personal to me. If any of those bastards came after Sting or Rogue to try to destroy what they obviously have, I would kill them. You go inside and tell Gramps, I'm going home."

Gray watched Natsu storm home and for the first time since this whole situation came about he wondered whether their odd friendship was strong enough to weather this mission. He entered the guild hall, the door closing behind him as he made his way to the Master's office.

xxx

A/N Sorry I took so long to get this out, I was trying to finish my long fic To Kill A Dragon (only one chapter left!) and then the holidays came around, my birthday was a couple of days ago too. I have not abandoned this fic at all. I'm looking forward to some of the things I have in store for our two reluctant heroes :). Thank you so much for all your kind reviews, comments and any and all indication that you enjoy this story.

So two things I wanted to mention. First some of us have put together a new Community called

Much Ado About Gratsu on fanfiction. We are hoping to have a comprehensive archive of all Gratsu fanfics (friendship or otherwise). Last I checked we had over 600 stories listed and are adding more as we find them. If that is your cup of tea, check us out and subscribe. You might find some stories you haven't read before. More info on my profile page. Second, I just read a lovely manga yesterday called My Brother's Husband Vol. 1. It deals with Japanese culture and how they see gay people as a Japanese man and his young daughter are forced to deal with his twin brother's husband showing up after the brother's death and it is amazing. I learned a lot about Japanese culture that I was not aware of and I highly recommend it. It is written by a man, Gengoroh Tagame. Anyhow, til the next chapter.


	4. Reluctant Coupling

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

Chapter 4: Reluctant Coupling

Gray had been sitting at the bar for about an hour. The music was blaring and he had already been approached by several men interested in the new eye candy. He had politely fended off the more aggressive ones and had a few drinks with the more polite ones always keeping himself aloof so as not to encourage any particular person. He was really wishing that he had not screwed things up with Natsu because he was not a social person by nature and if the fire mage was here with him they would at least be having fun and he wouldn't have to worry about trying to make himself attractive to other men. The whole situation was awkward for him and the initial ego boost of feeling desired had waned pretty damn quickly after a few of the more persistent ones tried to get handsy with him and he felt like he couldn't kick their ass because he was supposed to be looking for companionship.

"How are you holding up?", Bob approached him with a bottle of clear liquid and handed it to him.

"Uhm, ok I guess. What's this?", Gray looked at the bottle warily.

"Relax, it's just water, Ichiya used his magic to make it smell like alcohol though. I have several bottles set aside for you and Natsu. I figured you might want a break from all the hard stuff they keep trying to buy you.", Bob grinned at him knowingly, "I never got a chance to thank you earlier. I'm sure this is uncomfortable for you."

"You guys have done more for us, it's the least we can do. Where is Natsu anyway, shouldn't he be doing this with me?"

"He should be here soon, from what I hear he fought Hibiki and Cancer every step of the way.", Bob chuckled, "Erza had to go intervene but I heard from Eve that we will be very surprised by the results. Please don't go anywhere until they get back and let me know if you need anything."

Gray nodded his agreement and drank from his water gratefully. He went back to his admirers as he waited for his friends to return. Sadly, the number of women to approach him had dwindled as they noticed that he was only paying attention to the men. He was deep in conversation with a Blue Pegasus mage who had come to give him a break when he heard people talking about the Salamander from Fairy Tail.

Gray craned his neck to look for Natsu but he wasn't able to see anything over the crowd surrounding the entrance. He finally caught sight of him and he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. For years Natsu had only ever worn what Gray liked to call his mission outfit. White pants with some sort of black tunic or vest and those dreadful sandals. Sure he had seen him in suits a few times when missions called for it, but he had never seen Natsu wearing regular clothes. Gray doubted he even owned a pair of jeans. Gray himself had to buy so many clothes due to his stripping habit that he was usually wearing the latest styles.

Hibiki had dressed Natsu in a red long sleeved button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. A black vest was layered on top of the shirt and tight fitting light gray jeans with black boots completed the outfit. His scarf was hanging around his neck as always and from the way he was fingering it, Gray thought that might have been a personal victory. His pink hair had been lengthened a little to frame his face and the spikes had been tamed. He looked pissed off as all hell, which Gray could only imagine was due to everyone fussing over him but to others who did not know him that expression gave him an attractive air of danger. He was getting appraising looks from both men and women as he made his way to the bar, which in his usual obliviousness he did not notice. Even Gray had to admit that his friend cleaned up very well.

Natsu looked around the bar area as if he was searching for someone. His eyes finally fell on Gray, who lifted his arm in a wave, he gave a curt nod and made his way to the opposite side of the bar and sat down. Gray hid his disappointment, he had been looking forward to his arrival and he had forgotten the dragon slayer was still mad at him and had refused to follow the original plan. They were both flying solo.

Natsu had been having a horrible day, full of people poking and prodding him and making him try on ridiculous amounts of impractical clothes. He had finally put his foot down when Hibiki had tried to take away his scarf claiming it did not match the look they were going for or some bullshit like that. Not fucking happening, he had threatened to walk and even Erza could not convince him otherwise. He still didn't understand what was wrong with his own clothes. They were comfortable and easy to fight in. Then Cancer had taken over and started assaulting him with his scissors and lotions while Lucy and Erza had lectured him about manners. He had kind of missed having Gray around knowing that the whole experience would have been more fun with the other there but the Trimens had apparently not had a problem with his appearance as long as he kept his clothes on and so the ice mage had not been invited to come along. It was just as well he supposed since Gray had not apologized for his behavior the previous night and Natsu was still mad at him.

They finally got back to the club after everyone seemed satisfied with his appearance. The Trimens had wanted to make some big announcement but thankfully Erza talked them out of it. Natsu could hear people talking about him as he walked in but he ignored it. He fingered his scarf for courage and looked around for his rival. He caught sight of Gray and marked his location so that he could cover the other side of the bar. He was surprised to see the ice mage acknowledge him with a wave and gave him a nod as he found his own spot at the bar. The man sitting next to him struck up a conversation but did not seem interested in anything beyond that so Natsu began to relax. Bob came over and quietly explained about the water and Natsu accepted a glass gratefully. He looked around the club, trying to find anyone who might be unusually interested in Gray or any of the other men in the bar but there were too many people so he focused on the people around him instead. Every once in a while he would check on Gray, who to his neverending amusement looked incredibly uncomfortable. He had somehow managed to hang on to his clothing so far.

On a whim he grabbed a napkin and asked Bob for something to write with. He hastily scribbled a note and asked Bob to give Gray the napkin as well as one of the waters from him.

"Excuse me sir, this is from the pink haired gentleman over there.", Bob interrupted Gray's conversation.

Gray looked up to see a glass of what he had come to recognize as his special drink and a note from Natsu.

 _"Found a boyfriend yet, Ice Princess?"_

Gray looked over at Natsu and flipped him the bird which caused the fire mage to chuckle. Gray tried to decide what to write back because he really wanted this nightmare to end and to do that he had to get back on Natsu's good side. He went through five different napkins before he came up with something that would not get him in deeper trouble. He handed the napkin to Bob who passed it on.

" _You can write?_

 _Sadly no. Are you offering?"_

Gray had drawn little eyes with hearts in them like Juvia would get when she looked at him.

Natsu snorted and thought about whether he was ready to put Gray out of his misery. Natsu wrote his reply and handed it to Bob.

 _"Screw you, I still have the scars from Erza to prove it._

 _Hell no. The guy you're talking to looks promising though, ask him. You look really uncomfortable by the way."_

Damnit, Stupid Flame Brain. He looked over at Natsu who was smirking at him and sighed. He went for honesty with a touch of teasing.

 _"Maybe if you weren't so stupid she wouldn't have had to leave so many._

 _I'm not surprised, I am really hating this. You look really good like that, Squinty Eyes."_

Natsu looked at the note in front of him in confusion at the unexpected reply. Why the hell was the Ice Bastard complimenting him of all things. He couldn't think of anything to say. After about five minutes another note arrived.

 _"The great Salamander is speechless, I guess that's a point for me."_

This time it was his turn to flip Gray the bird, which only caused the ice mage to laugh at him. Yes, Gray was right that was definitely a point for him. However, this note was back on comfortable ground and he was able to respond quickly although not very eloquently.

 _"Fuck You."_

Gray laughed out loud, no longer able to feign interest in the people trying to get his attention. He quickly scribbled a response. This was the most fun he'd had all night and he was happy to at least sort of be talking to his friend again. Neither of them had noticed the amused glances Bob was giving them as he patiently delivered the notes.

Natsu laughed as he read the expected response.

 _"I thought you weren't offering."_

Gray had doodled eyes with raised eyebrows. He could honestly say this was the most fun he'd had today. Then again today had been pretty terrible so the bar was set pretty low.

 _"What the hell, are you flirting with me? You really are an asshole."_

Gray paused at Natsu's reply. Was he flirting with him? He hadn't lied, he did think Natsu looked really good but he thought he was mostly just having fun playing around with the notes. Yesterday he had made a mistake and all he had to do to fix it was apologize. Natsu was never one to hold grudges and hell he had even opened up the lines of communications. If he could get him to accept the apology he might not ever have to go through another night like this one. He put the tip of the pen in his mouth as he thought and wrote quickly before his pride stopped him from doing the right thing.

 _"I know. I'm sorry about yesterday, I should have listened to you. Speaking of which you should hear some of the lines I've heard today."_

Natsu read the last note again to make sure he was reading it correctly. Gray Fullbuster had actually apologized to him? He must be more desperate than Natsu thought. Still that was practically unheard of. He decided to accept it and move on. He didn't like being mad at his friends.

 _"Apology accepted although I feel like I should call Wendy to take a look at you._

 _Tell me what's the worst line you've heard?"_

He waited patiently for a response but none came. He looked to where Gray had been sitting and didn't see him. What the hell? He excused himself and left his seat to try to find him in the sea of people in the club.

"I told you earlier I wasn't interested.", Gray snapped at the man that had tried to grab him on the way to the bathroom.

"Well, I think you haven't been playing fair.", the man replied, "I bought you drinks but I never got anything out of it."

"You want a drink? Fine, I'll go buy you one.", Gray tried to make his way back to the bar but the guy grabbed him again.

"No I think I have something else in mind now that I've seen some of the goods."

Gray looked down and cursed. Of course, he'd managed to keep his damn clothes on all night and now is when he starts to lose them. He lowered his body temperature to try to get the guy to let go of him before he felt compelled to punch him. He'd promised Makarov he'd be on his best behavior after all.

"I suggest you let go of me before things get ugly."

Gray didn't think the guy was even listening to him anymore. He seemed transfixed looking at his bare chest, his hand reached out like he was going to touch Gray's guild mark.

"Who told you you could touch him?", Natsu snarled at the man as he stood next to Gray, "Get your hands off of my boyfriend if you want to leave this club in one piece."

When he didn't move Natsu calmly covered his body in his fire, making sure to not set the building afire. He had promised Makarov he would not destroy the club. That was enough to send the man running. Natsu released his magic and gave Gray his shirt that he had found on the way.

"I had it under control.", Gray said angrily.

"Whatever, if under control is getting to first base, then sure you had it under control. You're welcome by the way."

"Cool! Cool! Cool!", said a voice from behind them and they both flinched as they recognized Jason, the reporter from Sorcerer's Weekly.

"Shit.", they both muttered under their breaths.

xxx

A/N Sorry I took so long. I had serious problems with this chapter, this is probably the fifth version and I hope it was the right one as it was the one that clicked the best with me. Once I came up with the napkin idea I had fun, so at least there's that. Transitions are hard! I was also procrastinating by reading way too many stories in the Much Ado About Gratsu community that I had never come across before (almost 900 in there now!) :). I think I might have a slight problem, heh.

Does anyone know if Sorcerer Weekly has a name for Gray? I can't recall.

I need to write the Epilogue for To Kill A Dragon before I write the next chapter for this or I might find myself unmarried so it might be a bit. Bright side (not exactly) looks like a snow day tomorrow, up to a foot of snow expected. Eclipsing if you're here that's .305 m to you :P.

Italicized the noted for easier reading.


	5. Coming Out

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

Chapter 5: Coming Out

Jason's loud exclamations drew the attention of even more people in the club who now surrounded and openly stared at the Fairy Tail mages with interest, trying to figure out who the two boys were. Natsu and Gray stood there aware of the stares but frozen in place by their promise to Makarov to not be destructive. Had they been at their guild they would have punched the reporter and gone on their merry way but they were guests of another guild and in the middle of a mission to boot. Their resolve was quickly loosening though as Jason proceeded to yell out their worst nightmare.

"Fairy Tail's biggest rivals are actually a couple?", Jason screamed looking in general like he had just woken up from the world's best wet dream. He began to scribble madly into his notebook. "So cool!."

His mind was already filled with headlines and copy and he was filled with excitement. This was going to be their best selling issue yet. Who wouldn't want to read about this unlikely development? He would have to get a picture of the two of them for the cover. And an interview!

He immediately began shooting pictures of the two mages who were gazing at the reporter with murderous intent.

Jason had come to Blue Pegasus to do Jenny Realight's naked shoot, a result of her loss to Fairy Tail's Mirajane Strauss at the Grand Magic Games. He had certainly not expected to walk into the biggest scoop of his career.

He continued shooting pictures and Gray turned to Natsu and yelled, "This is all your fault! If you had let me handle this on my own we wouldn't be in this mess."

"My fault?", Natsu replied angrily, "That guy was all over you and you were just standing there letting him!"

"Gray, Natsu!", Erza interrupted them before their bickering could escalate, "A word?"

They began to follow her when she stopped and turned around noticing the reporter had begun to follow them. "Excuse us Jason, we'll be right back."

Lucy took the opportunity to distract him, asking when she could model for the publication again. They began to converse as Lucy tried to buy her teammates some time.

Erza made her way to one of the club's private rooms. Once they had entered she stood in front of her friends, arms crossed in front of her chest. "I'm sorry boys but you're going to have to cooperate with Sorcerer's Weekly."

"What? Why?", Natsu spluttered.

"Hell no, that was not part of the plan.", Gray said stubbornly.

"If you refuse, your cover will be blown and we won't be able to catch the bad guys.", Erza tried to reason with the two.

"Well, if we don't refuse it will follow us til the day we die.", Natsu said

"He's right Erza. Can't you just get rid of him somehow?"

"You're both overreacting. It's Sorcerer Weekly, people will forget all about it when the following week's issue comes out."

"You mean just like they forgot when Master made us do that humiliating cover with Gajeel and Jet for coming in last place in the 24-Hours Endurance Race?", Gray glared at her, "People still bring that up. I still have people come and ask me to sign the damn magazine."

"At least we didn't have to wear the maid outfit.", Natsu smirked remembering how ridiculous Gajeel looked in that outfit. He would never admit it but he actually kept a copy of that magazine. Anytime he needed a pick me up he would look at Gajeel's miserable expression and it would usually cheer him up immensely.

"You were a bunny girl, how is that any better you idiot?", Gray snapped, "I don't even know what the hell I was supposed to be.", Gray shuddered remembering the hideous pink dress he had been forced to wear.

Erza wanted to react to Gray's bunny girl comment but decided to let it go as she saw the panicked expressions on her friends faces. The Master had been right when he had said this job was going to be hard on them. She tried to think of a way out of their current situation. She could understand their reluctance but the fact was that Jason was not going to go away after what he had already seen.

She sighed and said, "Fine. It's been a long day, why don't you go to the hotel and get some sleep. The front desk has your keys but your luggage should already be in your room along with Natsu's new items that Hibiki had delivered. It's only Saturday, I'll get Jason to back off until at least tomorrow. That should still give him enough time to get his issue out on Wednesday. We can figure out how to handle it in the morning."

"There's a back way out of the club.", a voice startled them and they turned to see Master Bob had entered the room.

"I assumed you might want to make a quick exit.", Bob smiled at them kindly, "Erza wait five minutes before you go talk to the reporter, they should be long gone by then. If you would allow me a suggestion?"

Erza nodded respectfully, "Of course."

"It has been my experience that the best way to handle the press is to control the flow of information. Offer Jason an exclusive interview and pictures. He can be annoying but Jason is not a bad guy to deal with. He's a fanboy at heart, he has an honest love of magic and mages and as you can see by his shirt he loves Fairy Tail most of all. He will keep the rest of the press off of you if he has exclusivity."

Master Bob gestured for the boys to follow him and they left the room leaving Erza staring after them thoughtfully. She waited five minutes and made her way back out in search of the Sorcerer Weekly reporter.

Natsu and Gray left the club through a secret door and followed Bob's directions to get to their hotel. They were both tired and not having to deal with Jason for the moment had improved their mood greatly. They quickly got their keys from the front desk and made their way up to their room, entered and immediately noticed two things: there was only one bed in the room, and there was a small clothing store worth of items in the closet. There was even a note on the closet door forbidding Natsu from wearing his regular clothes for the duration of the mission and informing him that Cancer and Hibiki would be by in the morning.

"You mean I have to do this everyday?", Natsu looked at the contents of the closet in dismay, "Why the hell are they trying to turn me into a girl?"

"It wouldn't hurt for you to take some interest in your appearance, Natsu. No girl is going to want to go out with you the way you normally look. Do you even brush your hair?"

"I wouldn't be interested in anyone that only liked me for how I look."

Gray entered their bathroom to put his toiletries on the counter and yelled, "Holy hell!"

Natsu rushed into the bathroom to see what was the matter. Inside the bathroom, covering every available surface were bottles and tubes of beauty products, he didn't even recognize what half the things were for.

"You really did have a bad day didn't you?", Gray commiserated.

Natsu groaned and walked out of the bathroom in defeat. He changed into some pajama pants and plopped on the bed. "You don't know the half of it. I swear, I think Erza used a wire brush to scrub me down today. This sucks."

Gray joined him after turning out the lights in their room wearing only his boxers to bed. They lay next to each other under the blankets thinking about the day's events like they had for so many other missions where they had been forced to share a bed. Gray was thinking about how his night had gone and there was one thing that was still bugging him. He wasn't concerned about having found Natsu attractive, he was confident enough in himself to be able to appreciate things in others. He was more surprised that Natsu had started sending him those notes in the first place, especially if he had been mad at him.

Natsu on the other hand didn't know what to make of Gray's offhand compliment.

" _You look really good like that, Squinty Eyes_ "

He was not used to getting compliments unless it was about his magic. Mostly he just got yelled at for being brash, insensitive or destructive. He had to admit that it had felt nice even if it had come from his rival. 'Whatever, Gray was probably just messing with me', he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

The following morning they awoke to incessant knocking on their door. They tried to ignore it by hiding their heads under their pillows but when Erza began to threaten to break down the door Gray finally got up and let them in. Erza and Lucy came in followed by Hibiki and several waiters carrying room service breakfast platters and pots of coffee.

"What took you so long?", Erza glowered at Gray.

"Yeah, were we interrupting something ?", Lucy smirked at him.

Gray glared at Lucy not bothering to reply to her innuendo. His teammates all knew from experience that the ice mage was not a morning person and if you valued your life you would wait until he'd had at least two cups of coffee before addressing him in the morning. Natsu for his part was still hiding under the covers trying to make himself invisible but the smell of food was beginning to outweigh his sense of self preservation. Damn it! Why did their friends know them so well? This was a clear attack aimed at their weaknesses. He gave up and got out of bed heading towards the food.

While the two mages ate Hibiki and Lucy poured over the contents of the closet trying to pick Natsu an outfit for the day.

"I'm quite capable of picking out my own clothes.", Natsu groused.

"Natsu, I've seen the clothes you pick out. No offense dude, but a blind person could do a better job.", Hibiki sniped.

Lucy called on Cancer to work on Gray's hair. Natsu was amused to hear Gray discussing different styles with the crab.

"I didn't know you were so into this stuff, Ice Block."

Gray shrugged as Cancer began washing his hair, "Unlike you, I care about how I look."

"Erza, how did it go with Jason last night?", Natsu asked with curiosity.

"Better than expected, actually.", the redhead said as she stole a piece of bacon from Natsu's plate. "He agreed to the exclusive interview and pictures right away. He said he thought he had enough pictures for this week's issue. You are going to be on the cover with a short story inside. He wanted to prepare questions for the interview as well as decide on what shots he wanted so he would be back on Saturday. I have to say I was impressed with how professional he has gotten."

"On the cover?", Natsu whined loudly.

"I'm afraid so.", Erza said.

"All they had to do to get the cover was pretend to date each other?", Lucy complained, "That's so unfair."

"That's it, it's all over.", Gray groaned, "We are going to be the laughingstocks of the magic community. I can just hear Lyon now."

"It won't be so bad. You can always explain later and ask for a retraction", Erza said calmly.

Both boys stared at her, was she serious? No retraction was going to undo the damage. They wisely chose to not complain any further since she had gotten Jason off their backs for a whole week.

"You know, if we catch these people before Saturday then we don't even have to do the interview or the photo shoot.", Gray pointed out.

"That's true!", Natsu agreed cheerfully.

"Did either of you see anyone suspicious last night?", Gray asked hopefully.

"There were too many people, we could barely see the two of you but Hibiki told us that Saturday is one of their busiest night.", Lucy answered.

"We have events every night of the week but Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest. The rest of the week we tend to have smaller crowds. We have a jazz night, a comedy show, karaoke, open mic, poetry readings, burlesque show, etc. The events change every week and we're always looking for new ideas. Tonight's just karaoke.", Hibiki explained.

"Master Bob is waiting for us back at Pegasus. He said he needed to talk to you about something.", he added.

Once Cancer was done with Gray he moved on to Natsu, styling his hair the same way as the night before. They thanked him for his help and he returned to the Celestial World. Natsu and Gray were left alone to finish getting dressed and they met the others downstairs to head out to the club.

When they arrived Master Bob was waiting for them. Bob was standing behind the bar prepping ingredients for the evening but he stopped and considered them thoughtfully.

Bob waved Natsu and Gray towards him and began, "We need to work on your body language around each other. You might have been able to get away with awkward before but now that you are being outed as a couple certain things are expected. For example, not looking like you want to hit the other when you look at each other."

"Let's start basic. Natsu grab Gray's hand and walk with him towards the bar."

Natsu got up and grabbed Gray's hand roughly. He walked towards the bar pulling a struggling Gray behind him.

Bob stared at them for a moment. "What in the hell was that? It looked like you were dragging him to a death match. I don't know whether to laugh or cry."

He muttered under his breath, "This is going to be harder than I thought."

"Let's try this again. Natsu, this is your boyfriend someone you're supposed to like. You want to treat him nicely. Intertwine your fingers with his and walk slowly. You are enjoying spending time together, relax your body."

The second attempt did not go much better. After several more attempts they switched to have Gray take the lead and he did much better, which was good for Bob's sanity but frustrating for Natsu. The pattern continued throughout the day and Natsu was about ready to explode. When they were finally given a break he headed outside. At first Gray gave him some space but when ten minutes had passed and Natsu had still not returned he decided to go after him. He found him sitting on a bench at the back of the club.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, just leave me alone.", Natsu replied listlessly.

"Come on, I'm your boyfriend remember.", Gray joked, "I know when something's bothering you."

"Not funny."

"Natsu, will you just tell me what's wrong.", Gray pressed, trying to be patient.

"It's just-, how are you so good at this, while I am so very terrible?", Natsu said, his words twinged with sadness.

Gray sighed and he asked his friend seriously, "Do you remember your parents?"

"You know I don't."

"Well, I didn't have them for very long but I do remember mine", Gray said sadly, "My parents really loved each other. They were alway touching and holding hands and laughing. When Bob asks us to do something I just think about how they were and I try to do the same."

"Oh.", Natsu said his voice sounding small. He thought that he would like to have memories like that but he didn't.

"You were raised by a dragon and while I'm sure Igneel did everything he could for you, I think it would have been hard for him to model human relationships for you.", Gray said , "I can't think of too many relationships at Fairy Tail since we've been there either. There's nothing wrong with you, Natsu, you just haven't been exposed to the things that Bob is asking of us. I don't think it would be any different if I was a girl. If you want I can take the lead for now and when you're comfortable we can share the role."

Natsu nodded and then asked him suspiciously, "Why are you being nice to me all of a sudden?"

Gray sighed, "Because we're stuck in this together. There's no sense in making it harder on ourselves than we have to."

"Ok, you're right.", Natsu said accepting his answer, "I guess we should go back inside."

Gray offered Natsu his hand and the fire mage rolled his eyes but took it. They walked back into the club hand in hand. When they returned inside Bob had heaping plates of food ready for them and Natsu's cheerful exuberance returned as he attacked the food happily.

Gray saw this and smiled with affection. They had all had difficult childhoods but with the way that Natsu usually refused to let anything keep him down sometimes it was easy to forget he had also had it hard.

Bob must have realized that Natsu was nearing the end of his tether because he did not bring up any more lessons for the day and they were allowed to go back to the hotel while the girls stayed to enjoy karaoke and observe the clientele.

The next day Team Natsu walked around the town for awhile exploring the sights and giving the appearance that they were working on a mission before making their way to Pegasus. As soon as they crossed the threshold Gray noticed that all the mages were looking at him and snickering.

"Hey IceMan", Eve winked at Gray on his way out.

'What was that about?', he thought but continued to the bar with his friends. It was a warm day and they were all ready for one of Bob's cold drinks. He sat down and noticed that Hibiki was positively beaming at Natsu who finally caught on to the weirdness in the room. They looked around to see everyone watching them.

Master Bob looked nervous but he put on a smile as he filled their drink orders.

"Master, make sure the IceMan gets a cool drink, we wouldn't want for him to melt.", Jenny smirked, "Oh, and put it on my tab. I owe him one."

"Ok, what's going on?", Gray asked starting to get annoyed, "What's up with this IceMan business."

Master Bob smiled cheerfully, "Oh, apparently it's your new nickname from Sorcerer Weekly. Natsu's the Salamander and you're the IceMan."

"IceMan, huh?", Gray said, "I mean it's a little literal but it's not bad and I've never been given a nickname before. I thought they would come up with something lame like Ice Prince."

"Wait, how do you know that's the nickname I was given.", Gray's eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Well, uhm, Jason came by earlier to drop off advance copies of this week's issue for you, Natsu and Jenny.", Bob said, "He asked me to remind you that he is coming back Saturday morning for your interview and photo shoot."

Natsu and Gray tensed up as Bob went to retrieve their copies. This was the moment they had been dreading since Saturday night's fiasco. Erza and Lucy were watching them and trying to gauge their reaction. Based on the way Bob was acting it couldn't be very good. Bob returned and silently handed one copy to Gray and Natsu and one to Erza and Lucy and quickly moved back behind the bar..

"I'm going to kill the bastard", Gray screeched, "Where is his office?"

"It's not as bad as all that!", Lucy tried to reassure him, "You look amazing in the cover picture."

She tried to calm the ice mage down but Loke chose that minute to open his gate and immediately grabbed one of the magazines aggravating Gray even further.

The cover of the magazine consisted of a picture of Natsu and Gray standing close to each other looking at the camera, their eyes fierce. They both looked amazingly hot. Natsu in his new outfit and Gray wearing his shirt open so that you could see his guildmark.

Gray had nothing against the picture, that part was fine. He thought Natsu looked positively feral which made him look cool. What he did have a problem with was the headline. He could see exactly why Jason had chosen IceMan as his moniker and he was not amused. Not only was it cheesy and a play on words it was just terrible and now it would forever be associated with him. Had he said he hated Ice Prince? He only wished he had been so lucky.

"I think I would even prefer Ice Princess to this.", Gray grumbled.

"Hell no, Ice Princess is mine, only I get to call you that.", Natsu argued.

"What are you griping about IceMan, you guys look good in that picture.", Loke grinned looking for the other pictures in the pinup section, "Maybe I should pay Fairy Tail a little visit."

"Loke, you don't want to mess with me right now.", Gray warned.

Erza read the article out loud:

 _ **The IceMan Cometh - Out**_

 _by Jason_

 _Love is flourishing in Fairy Tail's strongest team but not in the way you would expect. Magnolia should ready itself for another flood alert as Juvia Lockser and women all over Fiore are expected to mourn when they find out that fan favorite Fairy Tail mage Gray Fullbuster has finally been taken off the market. Fullbuster, who has often been voted Most Eligible Bachelor by our readers is dating none other than Fairy Tail's Salamander, the Fire Dragon Slayer Natsu Dragneel, who managed to melt the IceMan's cold heart and claimed him as his own. The new couple has been spotted relaxing at the popular Blue Pegasus club which both mages are using as a home base while working on an undisclosed mission with Team Natsu, which also consists of the imposing Titania Erza Scarlet and Celestial Mage Lucy Heartfilia. While at the club this reporter witnessed Natsu come to his new love's rescue after another man tried to force himself on his ice mage. Amazingly the club is still intact. So cool!_

 _This news is made even more exciting as the two have been considered rivals since their first appearance in this magazine when they first entered Fairy Tail around 14 years ago. They somehow managed to get past their differences to become Fairy Tail's first openly gay couple. Sorcerer Weekly was able to snag an exclusive interview with the usually reserved mages. Look for it as well as more pictures in next week's issue!_

 _We hope the club will still be in one piece by the time they are ready to return to Magnolia as we all know how destructive the Salamander can be. Enjoy more exclusive photos of the new couple in our pinup section._

"Alright team, we need to work really hard to get this mission finished no later than Friday.", Natsu said, "I don't think I can keep Gray from killing Jason if he sees him."


	6. Unexpected Ally

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

Chapter 6: Unexpected Ally

Natsu woke up once again to the sound of incessant knocking and the loud threats of Erza Scarlet. He looked at the person lying next to him on the bed who although awake refused to move and determined that it must be his turn to get the door. He groaned and forced himself out of the bed and towards the door glaring at Erza as she managed to knock on his head instead of the door. Without even an apology she waltzed into the room followed by Hibiki and Lucy. There were no room service waiters trailing them this time much to Natsu's disappointment.

Gray made his way into the bathroom with a change of clothes and locked the door. They could hear the water running as he took a shower.

"Did he get any better last night?", Lucy asked him.

"Not really, he hasn't said very much since we got back.", Natsu replied, "He's just been sulking."

"How come you're handling this so well?", Lucy asked suspiciously.

"Honestly, with that headline, he has it way worse than me.", Natsu shrugged, "Jason basically made everything about him."

He looked at Erza and Hibiki going through his closet and muttered, "Do you really have to do that?"

He received his outfit for the day as an answer and when Gray left the bathroom he went in for his own shower. Once both boys finished getting ready they all left together to get some breakfast and to plan their investigation.

They began by going to the local Rune Knights to ask for information on the investigation. Unfortunately, the Rune Knights refused to share any more than what they already knew. They informed them that they could not share any information on an active investigation unless they had proper authorization from the Magic Council and they would not back down even for Erza.

The hospital was not much better. They claimed that they could not break patient confidentiality. They could only release that information if the patient gave them permission. Hibiki didn't know the names of any of the victims. He told them the Rune Knights had come to the club and shown them pictures when the attacks had happened but had not given them any names and he had not recognized the customers as regulars.

"Alright, I guess I don't really understand how Blue Pegasus works.", Lucy said to Hibiki, "Can you explain it to us?"

"Well, unlike Fairy Tail we're essentially an entertainment guild.", Hibiki replied. "We don't usually take missions like you guys do, although we do have a Request Board and some of our members do prefer doing that. During the day clients come to our club. They usually request one of us to help them with a problem which could turn into a job or just as a kind of escort or companion while they are there. We're also like a regular club. As you already saw we hold events and these are open to the public."

"So you guys don't do any fighting?", Natsu asked in disbelief wondering who would want to join a guild like that.

"Not usually, not unless a customer gets out of line or the Magic Council requests us for something like the Oracion Seis job where we first met."

"So basically we have absolutely nothing to go on?", Gray asked irritably. The magazine was going to be on stands everywhere tomorrow and at this rate they would never catch these people by Friday.

"Natsu why don't you go on ahead to the club and we can see if anyone follows you.", Erza suggested desperate to give Gray something to do so that he would feel like they were accomplishing something.

"Ok, I'm getting hungry anyway.", Natsu agreed and made his way to Blue Pegasus.

He greeted Master Bob and sat down at the bar and ordered some food. He waited patiently and began tapping his fingers on the bar to pass the time. He looked to his left and noticed a girl smiling at him. He returned her smile and turned his attention back to the bar hoping his food would arrive quickly.

"Are you a new member?", a voice startled him from his left. He turned to look and saw it was the same girl from before who had now moved next to him. She had long silver hair and pleasant blue eyes.

"Oh no, I'm just having some lunch.", Natsu replied thinking that after what Hibiki had told him he would only ever join this guild if he wanted to die of boredom.

"Oh, that's too bad. If you were I would have requested you right away."

"Sorry.", he smiled apologetically.

"My name is Suki."

"Natsu.", he nodded at her.

"Buy a girl a drink?", she asked when he had made no attempt to offer.

"Uhm sure. What would you like?", Natsu asked trying to be polite.

Suki gave her order to Bob who nodded and prepared her drink. He brought out Natsu's food and tried to get his attention but failed completely as Natsu was only interested in one thing at the moment. He had expected the girl to go away once she had gotten the drink but instead she began talking to him as he ate. He wasn't really paying attention but didn't want to seem rude so he made noises whenever the was a pause like he did to Lucy. By this point Bob was desperately trying to get his attention and the girl was grabbing on to his arm. He looked down at her hand in surprise wondering how that had happened.

He looked at Bob for help and finally saw him shaking his head at him. Natsu narrowed his eyes trying to understand what the man was trying to tell him. He wiped his face with his napkin and finally noticed the faint writing on it that he had inadvertently just smudged.

W̶̨̡͕̰̞̘̖͇̎ͭ́̕͢͡͞͡aͣ͜͏̸̶̸̝͎̫͖̠͚́͘͢͟͜͝ţ̸̴̴̨̛͓͎̟̟̱̭̲̱͂̓̄ͪ͊̀̚͘̕͟͝͠͠͡c̸̡̨̧̾ͮ͛̽͏̱̞̼̙h̴̷̶̶̸̨̧̢̛̛̤͇̻̫̻̪͐̉̏̈ͦ̇̾̊̋͘͢͟͞͝͡͝͠͡ͅ ̷̶̧̡̨̧̛̼̰͒̓̌ͮ̈́́̀͘͡͡o͏̵̷̸̸̛̛͘̕̕͢͞͞͠͠͡͞͏̶̰̀͢͡ͅū̴́͘͜͟͠͠͡͡͡͏̵̧̧̨̨̛͈̠͈̦͉̘͚́̕͟͟͜͝͞t̷̵̶̡̨̨̢̧̛̯̤̟ͭͩ͒͒͒̆́́́̕̕͘͢͝͠͝͡͝͡ͅ,̸̸̸̡͞͞͏̵̢̛͙̰̮̀̀͟͞͡ ̴̸̸̴̴̸̡ͫ̍̂̑́͟͏̞̀͞͡s̡̢ͫ̂̈́͐ͭ̈ͦ̕̕͘͢͠͏̼̹̭̜ͅh̴̷̨̨̡̨̡̏̒̏́̀͘̕͟͟͞͏͏͏̮̜͙̩̥ȩ̷́̕̕͜͡͞͞͏̴̴̧̦͕̦̕͜ ̶̷̸̸̧̨̛ͬ̋͐͛̍̎́́͘͘͟͡͏̬̦̳̘̫̠t̸̶̷̶̷̵̨̛ͭ̄́̚͘͝͠͏̨̨̧̢̬̗̳̙͓̕̕͟͜͜h̨͍̩͔̯̗͇̠̳̆̔͌̕i̸̵̸̶̵̴̶̷̶̡̨̡̨̫̪̋͐ͥ͛̿̀͜͢͜͞͝͞ņ̶̸̴̶̵̷̨̢͎̺̔ͪͨͨ̌̽̀͘͢͢͡͞͠k̶̨̇͛͐͆̀́͘͟͡͠s̸̴̡̨̧̛̛ͪͣ̍̎̏̅ͫ͛́̕̕͘͜͠͝͡ͅ ̷̸̶̢̡̃ͪ́́̀͝͠͝͞͏̴̡̮̩͙ȳ̶̴̵͑ͪ̌͆̒ͥ̓ͤ͜͟͠͡͏̨̜oͧu̶̷̵̶̧̡̨̧̟̻̖ͨ͛̈́̉͒̀̓̃ͤ̀͜͝͠'̶̸̧ͧ̇ͦ͋͛̋̀͌̕̕͢͢͜͟͞͠͡͠͏̯͜ŕ̷̵̵̴̜̥̲̯̺́͜͟͠͝ȩ̡̈͜͞ ̵̸̸̸̸̢̢̨̛͒̏̆̓͘͢͜͠͠͏̯̱̪̰̖̣̝͡į̴̶̶̵̸̢̢̡̲͐ͨ̈́̓̏ͭ̈́́̕͢͜͟n̴̷͐͑̍̌͆̏̕͜͡͡͏̵̷̨̻̦̱̼̗͈͎͎͡ţ̧̨̛̛̮͔̜̫̉̎ͩ̋ͧ̒̀̀ͭ̀̀͝ǫ̸̛̛͕̪̱̥̻͐̄́̿̅ͮ̋͋́́̀̀͜͟ ̴̸̷̢̡̢̛̛̛ͩ́̀͘͟͠͞͠͡͞͡ĥ̴̷̴̶̸̶ͨ̀͜͢͟͟͠ę̸̷̵̸̧̛ͣ͛͊́͘͘͏̛̥̟͜r̴̸̷̨̡̛͚̜̲ͥͣ́́͘͘͟͞͡͡!̛̃̾ͯ̉̋͏̵̧̨̢̡̢̛̛̀́̕̕͘͘͟͞͏!̸̨̛̛̲̪̗̍̄͑̿͛ͥ̉ͩ͢͝͞!̵̴̡̯̝̫̳̆̔ͣ̍ͤͨ͐ͭ̀̀̕̕͜͞ 'The hell?', Natsu thought.

͠Suki continued to smile at him and was asking him something about their plans for that evening. He was completely lost. What was happening this evening? As far as he knew he had plans with his "boyfriend".

Erza, Hibiki, Lucy and Gray entered the club and headed to the bar to look for Natsu. They had not noticed anyone following him but had spent some time exploring the different streets around the club to familiarize themselves with them. When they saw the girl who was clinging to Natsu three of them were amused by the obvious confusion on the Fire Dragon Slayer's face. The fourth, however, found himself not amused at all. Gray was irritated. What was the moron doing? They were supposed to be a couple. If he went around flirting with girls it would break their cover and then they would really not be able to finish the job by Friday.

He made his way over to Natsu and put his arm around the other's waist possessively. He leaned in and kissed Natsu's cheek, which was as far as they had agreed on at this point. He moved over to Natsu's ear and whispered. "What are you doing? You're supposed to be with me remember?"

Natsu shivered a little as he felt the warm air in his ear. He smiled at Gray and spoke through his teeth. "Don't do that again you bastard, it feels weird."

Gray straightened up and sat on Natsu's right side. "I'm sorry I'm late, Flame Muffin."

A loud crash was heard as Bob dropped the glass he had been drying. He apologized and began to clean up the shards of glass from the floor but Natsu was almost certain he heard barely contained laughter.

'Flame Muffin?', Natsu winced at the nickname, 'Has he lost his mind?'

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?", Gray looked at Natsu expectantly.

"Oh yeah.", he chuckled nervously, "This is Suki."

"Hello Suki, nice to meet you.", Gray said politely, "My name is Gray. I'm Natsu's boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?", Suki asked as she looked at Natsu accusingly, "You didn't mention a boyfriend."

Gray made a show of glaring at Natsu just as the girl threw the contents of her drink at the fire mage. She got up and left. Once she had left the club Gray started to laugh.

"You are such an asshole.", Natsu seethed annoyed that his clothes now reeked of alcohol.

"Serves you right for cheating on me.", Gray smirked.

"I wasn't cheating on you, Ice Princess.", Natsu spat out, "I don't even know what happened, I was just trying to eat my food. And you!", Natsu turned on Bob who was still trying to stifle his laughs, "What the hell did you write on this napkin? I couldn't make out a single word."

"Were you doing the thing were you pretend to be listening?", Gray asked knowingly.

Natsu looked sheepish, it was annoying that Gray knew him so well.

"Did you at least learn anything?", Natsu asked as the rest of their group joined them.

"No one followed you here. We took the opportunity to become acquainted with all the surrounding streets.", Erza replied.

They were all frustrated, not knowing what to do. Their best chance still seemed to be to attract the attention of whoever was selecting targets. Maybe the magazine would be a blessing in disguise. If the group wanted to strike fear into the gay population what better way to do that than to take down a high profile target.

That thought gave Lucy an idea and she whispered it to Erza. Erza nodded approvingly.

"Why don't you boys go back to the hotel and enjoy your last night of freedom?", Erza suggested, "Starting tomorrow morning you are a couple all the time."

"Sure, I definitely want to get out of these clothes", Natsu wrinkled his nose at the smell of the alcohol.

The two boys left the club and headed back to the hotel. The girls asked Hibiki if he wanted to come with them to the offices of Sorcerer Weekly and he declined. He had work to do in the club.

They found Jason hard at work on next week's issue. He was surprised to see them but he welcomed them with his usual exuberance while motioning for some of his employees to take over his work. He led the two mages to a table and offered them some tea. He looked at Erza and seemed a bit nervous.

"Did Natsu and Gray not like the magazine? Is that why you're here?"

"Well, I won't lie. Gray was not thrilled. I'd recommend staying away from him until Saturday.", Lucy told the reporter.

"That's not why we're here.", Erza assured him.

Jason tried not to look disappointed but failed. He perked up at hearing Erza's words.

"Why are you here then?"

"We were wondering if you had heard anything about attacks on Blue Pegasus customers.", Erza asked.

"I have heard a few things but not enough to be able to report anything. Not that they would let me anyway. That's why I was so excited about Gray and Natsu."

"I don't understand. People are being hurt, why wouldn't they want you to report it?", Lucy asked.

"Well, in all honesty Sorcerer Weekly is not the right platform for that type of news but I thought that with the last victim being a mage I could at least get the story out." , Jason replied with a sigh, "The people that were attacked were all gay men. They're a minority that neither the Crown nor the Magic Council are comfortable with. They would rather sweep it under the rug and pretend it's not happening."

"They can get away with that because the victims themselves are too embarrassed to come forward.", Jason continued, "The Rune Knights pretend to investigate to keep Blue Pegasus happy but no progress is ever made."

Both Erza and Lucy were looking at the man in front of them amazed to see how much more mature he had become in their seven year absence.

"The reason I went so over the top with Natsu and Gray is because I was excited to be able to bring two strong mages as role models to a group that so desperately needs them right now. Especially in this town. Natsu and Gray are each amazing in their own right, no one in their right mind would call them pansies or any of the other idiotic names people come up with. On the cover they look fierce, ready to take on anyone who stands in their way. I'm sorry if they were upset, I probably should have run it by them first."

He looked at the two of them suddenly putting the pieces together.

"That's the job you're here on isn't it?", Jason said excitedly, "Cool!"

Erza had her signature death glare already on her face. "You can't write anything about this."

Jason waved his arms in surrender. "I just told you I don't have enough to report on it. I would like to help catch those bastards though, and if you succeed I would like an exclusive."

Erza agreed to his terms.

"Jason, are you gay?", Lucy blurted out before realizing what an amazingly personal question that was.

"No, but I don't have to be to know that what is happening is wrong and it needs to be stopped.", Jason said seriously, "I'll be right back."

He walked over to the desk where he had been working when they arrived and opened a drawer. He pulled out a folder and brought it back with him.

"This is all the information I had collected.", Jason handed them the folder, "I hope it helps. If I hear anything else I'll be sure to get it to you at Blue Pegasus."

They thanked the reporter and left the office after Jason made sure to get his picture taken with the two mages. Erza and Lucy made their way back to the hotel to look through the first piece of information they had received since they had begun this job.

A/N My cat died in her sleep this morning, she was almost 19 years old and I had had her since she was 8 weeks old. We spent her last day binge watching Fairy Tail DVD Collection 10. She was the best friend I could have asked for and she often sat with me while I wrote. I will miss her terribly. I wrote this chapter to help keep my mind off of it for awhile but I think I failed miserably. I hope you enjoy it regardless. Rest in Peace Ellie, I will never forget you.


	7. Wednesday

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

Chapter 7: Wednesday

Gray opened his eyes slowly, not sure what had woken him up from his slumber. He couldn't remember when he had finally fallen asleep but judging from how tired he still felt it could not have been long ago. He listened to the soft, well softer than usual, snores that were coming from the boy who was fast asleep next to him. A sound that had lulled him to sleep. He envied Natsu's ability to sleep through anything.

He was frustrated at the lack of progress in their job. Not just because of the desire to finish before they had to submit to the dreaded photo shoot and interview for the magazine but because it felt like an attack was imminent and they were nowhere close to being able to stop it. Erza and Lucy had returned the previous night with a folder that they had acquired from Jason. They had pored over its contents as they ate dinner in the boys' room. Gray had to admit that after he got over his annoyance with Erza for not taking him with her he had been surprised that the annoying fanboy that often followed them around with a camera was capable of investigative reporting.

He wasn't surprised by Jason's assessment of the Magic Council, to Gray it always seemed that they were only good for making things worse, but it disgusted him that they did not give these attacks the importance that he felt they deserved. People were being hurt and he did not care what made them different, they were people and that's all that mattered. Then again the Council did not seem to value human lives in general, how many times had they already shown his own team that they were considered expendable?

Jason had a source inside of the Rune Knights local office. Although he hadn't given the reporter any of the names of the victims they now knew that there had been ten attacks which was more than what Master Bob had told them. Out of those ten, four had been mages. Bob's friend had been the last recorded attack. It was the only time a maser had been used. Before that it seemed they had been using pipes and clubs as well as their hands and feet. There was a note on the file that said the Knights were concerned this might point to either an escalation in their activities or an increased interest in targeting mages. All the victims had been attending Blue Pegasus events. The attacks happened on either Friday or Saturday nights, which made sense since those were the club's busiest nights. Although the attacks happened at different locations, all took place within a quarter mile radius from the club and all the victims had been found in dark alleys. The victims' ages and appearance were different as well. The only thing that these men seemed to have in common was that they were physically fit and gay. There was no consensus on how many attackers there had been but it seemed to be no more than six. All of the attackers had worn masks so there were no descriptions on file besides vague guesses at heights. Not really much to go on but Gray supposed they had finished jobs with even less information in the past.

It was still dark outside and he tried to get back to sleep. He knew today was going to be difficult for him, it could only go worse with no sleep. He focused on the sound of Natsu's snores and once again allowed them to lull him to sleep.

Natsu snapped awake unsure of why his heart was beating so quickly. He immediately felt pain in his jaw and quickly got out of bed putting himself in a defensive stance. He lit his hand on fire and extended his senses to try to detect an intruder but found no one. He rubbed his jaw trying to work through the pain as he looked around him in confusion. What the hell? He released his magic and finally looked down at the bed where he had been laying a minute before. His heart slowed down to normal and the small part of him that was not annoyed at being awoken so rudely was amused.

Gray was clearly in the throes of a dream. "Stupid, Flame Breath! Get back here, I'm not done with you.", Gray sleep mumbled as he thrashed around in his sleep.

Apparently the Ice Princess dreamed about their fights. 'Figures', Natsu thought smirking, "That's probably the only way he can win.'

He looked out the window to see the sun already rising and as such there was no reason to go back to sleep. He went to one of the room's chairs and sat. Just like Gray he had been dreading this day. He didn't like this mission, but he had agreed to it and he would finish it to the best of his ability. He wished that someone would attack them soon because he was tired of being put in situations that he didn't understand or feel comfortable with. Fighting an enemy would suit him just fine, he needed to fight something and Gray was not currently on the menu.

Natsu liked his life simple. There were four things he basically cared about: friends, fighting, eating and sleeping. In that order. Oh, and finding Igneel of course but that had been put on hold for the moment. He had no interest in attachments to anyone outside of the friendship that he gladly gave to anyone who desired it.

He, of course, was not as oblivious as he pretended to be. He was aware that both Lucy and Lisanna had an interest in him that was more than platonic but he had realized early on that feigning ignorance was easier than telling them that he wasn't interested in them in that way. He doubted that telling them that he wasn't interested in anyone would make matters any better in their eyes. They were his friends and he did not want to hurt them. Gray and Erza, who knew him better than anyone, would probably point out that this was a very short sighted solution and they would of course be right but he didn't care. It kept things simple.

This mission was quickly making his life complicated. It was causing him to second guess himself as well as act in ways he did not fully comprehend. Case in point, he had been furious with Gray for making him lie to his friends, so what the hell possessed him to start sending him notes like a girl when he saw how miserable the ice mage was? Forget that, why on Earthland had he claimed him as his "boyfriend" in the first place? Gray could certainly take care of himself. Their years of fighting and training together made sure of that. But still Natsu had rushed like a goddamn knight in shining armor to his rescue. And over what, some guy drooling over Gray's chest? It's not like everyone in Fiore hadn't already seen it. Thanks to that genius move they were about to become the laughingstock of the magical community.

He could forgive himself all that as just not knowing how to respond to a situation he wasn't accustomed to if Gray's reactions had been normal. However, instead of the expected fight over the magazine and the so called couple's training with Bob, Gray was handing out compliments and being nice and Natsu didn't know how to handle that. It's like the ice mage had figured out a new weapon to use against him and it sure as hell was working because he didn't know how to respond. It was driving him insane. He wanted to fight, to get things back to normal between them. Hell, anything to get rid of the awkwardness he felt around his friend at the moment. But of course, the real awkwardness had yet to begin.

Today, the magazine was going to be read by a lot of people and they would have to pretend to be a couple for everyone to see. More hand holding and touching and kissing. There would have to be actual kissing now. That was as far as Natsu had agreed to go and he trusted Gray to respect his limits. Call it a dragon instinct or him being a romantic but these acts, while perhaps meaningless to others, meant something to him. They were special and as such he had never engaged in them until this mission. The only reason he could engage in them with Gray was because he was special to him as well, he loved him in his own way although not romantically. He trusted him, but how were they supposed to get back to normal after this was all over? This was the thought that worried him the most. All of Fairy Tail might be his nakama but Gray and Erza where his rocks and had been for as long as he could remember. He sighed and tried to ready himself for what was to come, reminding himself that thanks to the way the article had been written Gray would have it even worse.

The sun was now up and so he stood from his chair and after getting dressed made his way downstairs to the front desk to order some breakfast and coffee delivered to their room. After some thought he ordered more food for the girls and Hibiki. It was a delay tactic at best but it would allow them to stay in the hotel longer. When he returned to the room Gray was still asleep, although he looked more peaceful than before. Natsu smiled wondering who had won their fight, silently rooting for dream Natsu.

He set out to pick his own outfit for once, frowning into the closet at all the choices while he waited for the food to be delivered. He had managed to pick out a shirt he did not hate and placed it on a chair when there was a knock on the door. He heard stirring on the bed behind him.

He opened the door for the waiters who set up their food and coffee on trays and quickly disappeared. He got a mug of coffee ready for Gray and handed it over wordlessly as he made his way to the bathroom. When he returned he found Gray still drinking his coffee while grabbing items out of Natsu's closet and placing them on the chair with the shirt he had picked out.

"What are you doing?", Natsu asked exasperated, "Why does no one think I can do this myself?"

Gray startled and turned towards him. He looked at Natsu with a suddenly puzzled expression. "Why do you have a bruise on your face?"

"Do you remember what you were dreaming about?", Natsu asked with an annoyed look.

Gray thought back to his dreams and laughed, "I'm sorry. That was probably not great to wake up to."

He looked at all the food and began to help himself. "Are you this hungry, or are you expecting company?"

"Well, they show up every morning don't they?", Natsu said crankily.

Gray nodded. This morning proved no different. Erza, Lucy and Hibiki arrived ten minutes later. It seemed that they had been letting the boys sleep late while catching Hibiki up on the information they had gotten from Jason. They happily sat down for breakfast once Natsu's outfit had been approved.

"Did you pick that out yourself?", Erza looked at Natsu with suspicion.

Before Natsu could respond Gray lied smoothly, "Yeah, surprised me too."

"Well, maybe we won't be needed tomorrow morning.", Erza said pleasantly.

Natsu had been about to give Gray a look of appreciation when he began glaring at him instead. There was the fucking niceness again. He finished his breakfast and grabbed his clothes on his way to take a shower.

"Were you two fighting?", Erza growled at Gray, "Why does he have a bruise?"

"No. Apparently, I did that in my sleep.", Gray replied not paying much attention to his words. His mind was trying to figure out what was going on with Natsu.

"What's tonight's event at Pegasus?", Lucy asked Hibiki.

"There will be a live band playing acoustic music. It's mellow and usually pretty popular."

"That sounds like fun.", Lucy replied excitedly, already thinking of what outfit she would wear and how many cute guys might be there. Things with Natsu were going nowhere and she could certainly use a confidence boost.

They stayed in their room until they had each reread the file and Erza's threats became more heated.

ooooo

After spending about an hour walking around town making a general spectacle of themselves they had moved their two man show to Blue Pegasus for the afternoon. Gray was in a foul mood and Natsu could only be glad that Gray had not heard most of the things that Natsu himself had. He had, however, heard enough to set him off on his current quest to drink himself stupid. Bob was looking at him worriedly.

"Maybe you better slow down Gray", Bob urged, "How about some water?"

"Just keep them coming.", Gray growled.

"I didn't peg you as the sensitive type, Ice Princess."

"Fuck off Flame Breath, I'm not in the mood."

"Who cares what random people think?", Natsu tried to comfort him, "This will all blow over soon."

"I said shut the fuck up.", Gray yelled, throwing a punch at the fire mage.

Natsu looked over at Bob who only shrugged. Taking that as permission Natsu grabbed Gray by his collar and pulled him off of his stool. He threw him at a nearby wall causing some of the members of Blue Pegasus to scramble out of the way in surprise. Brawls were not something they were used to.

"Is that all you got, Ice Bastard?", Natsu taunted, "You're right, coming out **has** made you weak. Lucy can punch harder than that."

Gray lunged at him, "What did you say to me?"

"What is going on here?", Erza demanded appearing seemingly out of nowhere, "Why are you fighting?"

A commanding voice responded, "Back off Erza, I think they need to do this."

Erza looked at Master Bob in surprise, she had never heard him use that tone before. Sounding more normal he said, "Although it would be great if they could take it outside before they destroy something and maybe remind Natsu that Gray is drunk."

"I said, you punch like a girl, Ice Princess.", Natsu repeated dodging out of the way of another sloppy punch while kicking Gray's chest with a roundhouse kick.

"You should be the girl with your stupid pink hair.", Gray muttered.

"Is that what this is about?", Natsu yelled, "That's stupid, why does there even have to be a girl?"

"Easy for you to say, no one has been saying that shit about you, almighty Salamander", Gray said bitterly. He punctuated the statement by punching Natsu in the stomach.

That was not actually the case, Natsu had heard many people say similar things about him all day. He just didn't care, he was used to people making fun of him because of his hair. He'd gotten over that particular hangup years ago. He kicked Gray behind the knees and dropped the already unbalanced mage to the ground but Gray managed to grab hold of Natsu's shirt as he fell dragging him down with him. They both rolled away from the other and quickly got up although Gray almost fell again. They came at each other fists swinging.

"ENOUGH! Take it outside.", Erza screeched angrily as she separated them. As they stormed out of the building, she followed them to make sure they didn't go too far. She saw what Bob meant, Gray had a lot of pent up anger that had to be let out and Natsu was the perfect punching bag.

Natsu tried to calm himself down. Even though he was excited to finally be back in familiar territory Gray was too drunk to put up much of a real fight.

"Are you really going to let some stupid magazine article tell you who you are?", Natsu asked heatedly as he easily blocked another uncoordinated punch.

"For Mavis sake Gray, nothing has changed. You are the same idiot stripper you were last week.A stupid magazine isn't going to change that, not unless you let it."

Gray looked at him, unsure, the alcohol making both his judgment and vision hazy. He was still angry and he wanted to lash out but Natsu's words were starting to filter through.

"Think about how stupidly you must be acting right now for me to be the voice of reason."

Gray looked at Natsu and started to laugh drunkenly. "You look ridiculous fighting in those clothes, Flame-Brain."

Natsu scowled at the ice mage but inside he felt happy with the normalness of their bickering, "Feeling better?"

"I guess, thanks." He staggered unsteadily over to Natsu and gave him a hug, patting his back roughly. Natsu returned the hug but stiffened when Gray slurred in his ear "I like your stupid pink hair." before he released him.

Natsu looked at him oddly but chose not to comment, adding it to the list of things the ice mage had told him lately that Natsu just did not get.

They watched with interest as Lucy came out and headed towards Erza. They spoke quietly and headed over to the two mages.

"Are you guys done?", Erza asked.

They nodded at her tiredly.

"Fix yourselves up and let's go back inside. It looks like we might have a fish on our hook.", she said excitedly.

They made their way inside and headed back to their seats at the bar. Bob looked them both over trying to gauge their mood and seemed satisfied with what he saw. He gave Gray some black coffee as they asked him quietly about the person Lucy had mentioned and he motioned to a young boy sitting several stools away from them.

Natsu observed the boy who was openly staring at them. He looked younger than them. He had longish black hair that framed his face. His green eyes were uncertain as he kept looking down at an object on the bartop and then back at them. Natsu glanced at the object and groaned to himself, it was a copy of the magazine. He didn't think that the boy looked all that threatening but he didn't have to be, he just needed to point them out to others who were. Still he didn't think the boy would be so open about it and the look he was giving them reminded him more of the way Romeo and Wendy looked at him when they were younger than anything else. He glanced at Gray, who was still talking to Bob, and decided he was not yet in a place to handle anything to do with the stupid magazine.

The club was still pretty empty so he looked around to pinpoint the location of his other team members. Lucy was openly flirting with some guy he hadn't seen before. Erza was sitting at a table chatting with Eve Tearm, one of the members of Blue Pegasus, her eyes roaming the club watching the other customers for any inkling of interest in her team members. Natsu made a small gesture to let her know he was going to go talk to the kid. She nodded her approval at him.

Natsu placed his arm around Gray's shoulder and leaned in closer to his face.

"I'm going to go talk to the kid.", he said quietly, "can you watch his reactions to see if he is trying to communicate with someone?"

Gray nodded and said just as quietly, "Don't do anything stupid."

"Do I ever?", Natsu said as he stood up and headed towards the boy.

Gray snorted at the comment but ordered another coffee. Natsu was right, he shouldn't have let things get to him so quickly. He was embarrassed at the way he had behaved earlier. He kept his eyes on the boy.

"Hi, do I know you?", Natsu said in a friendly manner.

"N-no.", the boy said nervously trying to hide the magazine from Natsu's view.

"My mistake. The way you were staring at me I thought maybe I did.", he turned as if to move away.

"No, wait!", the boy cried.

Natsu turned and looked at him quizzically.

"I shouldn't have been staring. I was just surprised that you were really here", the boy explained.

"Because of the magazine you're hiding?", Natsu smiled kindly.

The boy blushed with embarrassment at having been caught but he nodded.

"I was just wondering if you would help. I mean the magazine said you were already working a job but I thought since you guys were like me maybe you might help.", he mumbled nervously.

"Like you? Are you a mage?", Natsu asked dumbly.

"No, I mean yes but that's not what I meant.", the boy had turned even redder than before.

"Oh, OH!", Natsu said as he finally understood what the boy was trying to say. Natsu ordered them two sodas and moved over to a booth where they would not be heard easily. He noticed Gray had moved from his stool and was heading towards them. He shook his head at Natsu which made him relax somewhat.

"I'm Natsu, what's your name?"

"Fernan.", the boy answered.

"I'm Gray.", Gray said as he sat down next to Natsu.

"Why don't you tell us what you want help with, Fernan?", Natsu said.

Fernan sighed, "I have this friend, Andre."

"Wait, is this an actual friend or are you just saying that so we don't think it's you?", Gray interrupted not wanting to waste time.

"No, he's real. He's a mage too. They have a lot of live bands here and he would sneak out to come listen to them. We both look older than we are so we can usually get in without a problem. He liked to flirt with some of the other guys who came here who were, you know, like us.", Fernan had a sad smile as he talked about his friend making Natsu wonder if there was more to their relationship than he was letting on.

"Three weeks ago I went to his house to hang out like I always did and he wouldn't see me.", Fernan looked hurt but he continued, "His mom told me that they had just returned from the hospital. He had been attacked after he left here the previous night. Three of his ribs and one of his arms were broken but that was not the worst of it. She was really upset. She said that when they questioned him the Rune Knights made it sound like it was Andre's fault he was attacked."

"Andre had a hard time accepting that he was gay, it took him a long time until he was comfortable enough to even admit it out loud or tell his parents, but he finally did. He was comfortable with himself and others. He was flirting and smiling. His mom said that they yelled all sorts of things at him while they were beating him up and it just broke him, you know. He hasn't left the house since it happened. Hasn't wanted to see anyone."

"That's all terrible but I don't understand how you want us to help.", Gray said.

"Andre is a fire mage and he always really admired Natsu. When you guys returned and went to the Grand Magic Games he begged his mother to take him and he saw you and Black Steel fight the Twin Dragons. He wouldn't talk about anything else for weeks! When I went to the store today and saw that not only were you like us but you were on the cover of Sorcerer's Weekly flaunting it, I bought a copy for him thinking it might cheer him up. Then I read the article and it said you guys were here so I thought I would try to talk to you.", Fernan held the magazine in his hands like it was his own personal lifeline .

"You don't care what anyone thinks about you. You're his hero, Natsu. I thought maybe if you talked to him, told him it was ok to be himself, maybe it would help him come back.", he looked at Natsu pleadingly, "Would you, please?"

Natsu froze, he felt like the world's biggest fraud. What was he supposed to say to that? Maybe Andre looked up to Sting as well? He could probably get him to come. He felt Gray grab his hand and squeeze it. He looked at him with a panicked expression, not knowing what to do or what to say.

Gray leaned in to Natsu and whispered in his ear, "Don't say anything yet, ok?"

Natsu nodded, his face devoid of emotion.

"Fernan, do you mind if we call a friend of ours over? I think she needs to hear this.", Gray asked.

Fernan shrugged, he looked very young and Gray felt badly for him, for all of them really.

Gray signalled Erza over to their table and she arrived quickly looking very curious. He recounted what the boy had told them as he saw Fernan still waiting for his answer while Natsu struggled with himself. Erza could not contain her excitement at finding a connection to one of the actual victims.

"Do you think we could all go see your friend?", Erza asked, "I would like to ask him some questions."

"He won't see anyone, not even me. That's why I was hoping he might talk to Natsu, I thought that might be something he couldn't resist.", Fernan said once again fixing his gaze on the Fire Dragon Slayer who had not yet responded to his request, disappointment began to cloud the boy's features.

"Natsu is going to be very busy with our job for the next few days.", Gray lied smoothly, "How about you bring Andre over here and then he can meet all of us."

"I don't think he will come, he hasn't left the house since his attack", Fernan reminded them, skeptical that this plan would work.

"Erza do you have something to write with?", Gray asked as he got an idea.

She shook her head but was able to get a marker from the bar. She handed it over to the ice mage. Gray asked Fernan for his magazine and to Natsu's surprise signed his name under his picture and handed the marker over to Natsu who did the same. Gray scrawled a note:

 _Andre,_ _Sometimes bad things happen to good people but you have to remember to always stay true to yourself. Looking forward to seeing you and Fernan!_ He handed the magazine over to Fernan and said, "Then give him this. Tell him that we will be in town for a few days longer. I'm sure Natsu would love to talk to him then. He might even show him some of his magic. Despite what Sorcerer's Weekly claims he is able to use it without destroying everything around him.", Gray smiled at him encouragingly.

"Signing autographs already, dear brother?", a mocking voice approached them from the bar causing Gray's smile to wilt as soon as he recognized it.

"Lyon, what are you doing here?", Gray asked as Erza excused herself from the table taking Fernan with her. She wasn't sure why Lyon had come but she knew Gray would appreciate the privacy. Natsu stayed where he was, he imagined this would involve him too.

Lyon sat across from them and ordered a drink.

"So, exciting day?", he smirked as he took in their bruises, "Actually, can I get your autographs too? I think I want to frame this one."

He took a copy of the magazine out of his coat and placed it front of them.

"I didn't think you read Sorcerer's Weekly.", Gray said evenly staring at the magazine in front of him.

"On the contrary, I find it very informative. It does profiles on mages from all sorts of guilds and talks about what magic they use. It helps to know what you might be up against in the future. Of course I wasn't expecting to find this.", Lyon said as he pointed to the cover.

"Did you actually want something or are you just here to be an ass?", Natsu snarled.

"Oh, she's feisty! I can see why you like her, Gray.", Lyon grinned clearly enjoying himself.

Natsu was getting riled up and as far as he was concerned he couldn't think of a single reason why he shouldn't wipe the floor with the so called Cold Emperor.

"Lyon, what do you want?", Gray asked again holding Natsu back with his arm.

"Whatever, I'm going back to the bar.", Natsu said as he got up and left them alone.

"I just wanted to tell you that your little plan isn't going to work.", Lyon said.

"Fine, I'll bite. What are you talking about?"

"This obvious attempt to get Juvia to want you once she thinks she can't have you.", Lyon continued, "I applaud your efforts but ultimately they will be worthless. She will still pick me over you."

"For the last time, I'm not interested in Juvia.", Gray said tiredly as he massaged his temples. The coffee had helped him sober up but it had not done much for his headache. He'd lost track of how many times they'd had the same inane conversation. "You can marry her today for all I care, hell please do."

"I can see straight through you, you know.", Lyon said as he leaned closer to his brother, "It's for a job, isn't it? It has to be. I mean really, Natsu of all people."

"What's wrong with Natsu?", Gray asked, his voice getting louder as he defended his friend.

"For starters, he's loud, obnoxious and an idiot.", Lyon counted off with his fingers.

"I'll give you that he's an idiot, but he's also loyal, honest, fun to be around and you know what, I don't have to defend my actions . All you need to know is he's with me, so back the hell off.", Gray yelled at Lyon and stormed off leaving very surprised expressions on both Lyon and Natsu, who had heard everything from his seat at the bar.

Lyon made his way to the bar and sat next to Natsu. Bob came by and gave them both drinks as the band began to play.

"Can you tell him I'm sorry?", Lyon asked Natsu, "I didn't mean to upset him, I just wanted to poke fun."

Natsu nodded, "It's been a rough day. This whole thing with the magazine has been a lot for him to deal with. People can be assholes, take you for instance."

Lyon snorted, "I deserved that. I'm sorry about what I said about you earlier."

"No need, I am feisty.", Natsu grinned which was as good a way as any to change the subject. Lyon took the hint and they were soon joined by Erza and Lucy and her new friend. They spent the rest of the night listening to the band. Gray eventually returned and took his place next to Natsu.

ooooo

A/N First off I want to thank everyone who took time out of their lives to try to cheer me up. It really meant a lot to me and I appreciate it. I'm slowly getting better.

This chapter ended up longer than I anticipated. I had planned to have this story be 10 chapters with most chapters narrating what happens on any given day. This was Wednesday. Here's my question, Is it too much happening in one space? Do you think it would be better to break it up into more chapters or does this format work for you?


	8. First Kiss

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima , all other characters belong to me.

Chapter 8: First Kiss

Natsu had not been able to sleep very well. He had found himself tossing and turning and after a few hours he gave up. He got up from the bed and sat in a chair in the dark so as not to wake the sleeping ice mage.

He ran over the events of the previous day in his head. More and more he was getting the feeling that Gray was acting oddly towards him. Natsu understood that they were pretending to be in a relationship and having been in exactly zero of them in his lifetime he had nothing to compare his fake relationship to. Still, he couldn't help but find it strange that most of Gray's compliments and gestures came when there was no one around to observe them. Wasn't the whole point for them to be seen acting that way? He supposed that to his knowledge, Gray had never been in a relationship either. If he was acting out what he had seen from his parents, like he had mentioned, it could make sense. Yes, that must be it, he told himself, even as doubts continued to gnaw at him. If that wasn't the case though, he worried, what was he going to do about it?

Then there was the whole thing with Andre. He had been furious when he had heard Fernan recount what had happened to his friend. He wanted to teach whoever had been stupid enough to hurt the boy a lesson, had been all raring to go. Until Fernan had pleaded with him to talk to his friend. Natsu had only sat there frozen. He had not been able to agree to do as the boy asked. He remembered the disappointment on Fernan's face when Natsu had not responded. Truth be told, Natsu was disgusted with himself, inaction was not a word that was usually in his vocabulary. He was always the one to take off and fight without giving a thought to anything else but his desired result. Yet here he was, sitting in the dark like a coward.

He knew they needed to talk to Andre, needed to ask him what had happened. They had no other leads, but he couldn't just sit there and lie to his face just to get information. Andre had been through enough already. He didn't need people lying to him to make him feel better, but if he told the boy the truth then their cover could be blown and that would hinder their investigation even more, not to mention Erza would skewer him with all the blades in her Heaven's Wheel Armor. He just couldn't win no matter what he did. What was he supposed to do?

He wished Happy was here, he was always able to make him feel better when he felt down but Makarov had forbid the Exceed from coming on this mission. He understood Gramp's reasoning, things between him and Gray were awkward enough even without Happy's good natured teasing but he couldn't help but wish for his little pal.

He sighed having gotten nowhere even with all his thinking and his tired body and mind urged him to try to get some sleep. He started to make his way back to the bed but decided he would rather be by himself for the moment so he moved to the room's sofa. He settled into a restless, uncomfortable sleep.

When Gray woke up in the morning, he was surprised to find himself alone in the bed. He wondered if he had attacked Natsu in his sleep again. He got up quietly, looking for his friend and found him sleeping on the room's sofa. Natsu's face looked troubled and Gray was saddened. He knew Natsu was upset about the whole Andre situation. Personally, Gray thought Natsu was being unnecessarily stubborn but then again Gray saw no problem with bending the truth when needed.

He got himself ready for the day and after some thought pulled out Natsu's regular clothes for him to wear. He would face Hibiki's wrath later but he knew Natsu felt woefully outside of his comfort zone and maybe feeling more like himself would actually help him.

Natsu finally woke up to find Gray staring at him thoughtfully. He sat up and stretched.

"What are you looking at droopy eyes?"

"I was just thinking about those food vendors we saw yesterday. Wanna go find them and eat really unhealthy crap for breakfast before Erza shows up?"

Natsu's eyes lit up immediately. He had been disappointed yesterday when they had only walked through the market. There had been some seriously interesting smells he had wanted to explore.

"Hell yeah!", Natsu said excitedly, jumping off of the sofa, "I'll be ready in five minutes."

His face immediately fell as he looked at his closet. Gray smirked as he pointed to the bed and said, "Don't worry, I've already picked your clothes for you."

Natsu's smile grew wide as he recognized his own clothes but then looked at Gray worriedly. "Won't they be mad?"

"So?, you can tell them your boyfriend requested it. What can they say to that?", Gray grinned.

Natsu did not have to be told twice. He grabbed the clothes from the bed and ran into the bathroom. He took a quick shower and got ready to go. They exited their room quietly, trying to avoid Erza. Once they were outside, Natsu looked more relaxed and Gray was happy to see he had been right. They made their way to the market.

ooooo

Lucy was very happy this morning. She had been humming to herself as she pulled every outfit she had packed onto her bed. She evaluated all of them carefully but was ultimately dissatisfied with all of them. She wrinkled her nose but eventually picked one that she could live with.

Erza watched her with amusement. She hadn't seen the blonde this nervous in a while.

"What's the matter, Lucy?", Erza asked, although she had a pretty good idea. The blonde had been sticking to that guy Michel all night.

"I just can't find anything good to wear, but I can't really afford to go shopping for a new outfit right now."

"You really like this guy don't you?", Erza asked with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, he's really nice and he likes you guys too! He wants us to go on a double date with Natsu and Gray. I was going to ask them about it today. Do you think they'll do it?", Lucy asked hopefully.

Warning bells were going off in Erza's head. "Don't you think that's odd?", Erza asked, "Why would he want to do that when you guys just met?"

"He just wants to show his solidarity with them being gay and all.", Lucy replied.

Erza thought that odd as well but resigned herself to keeping her eyes on Lucy and her friend. She knew Lucy had been pining over Natsu for awhile, even if she hadn't come out and said anything. It was painfully obvious to everyone except Natsu. If her friend was happy and actively trying to move on she didn't want to be the one to ruin it for her. It wouldn't be the first time she was overly cautious and it turned out to be nothing. She hoped that they would be able to talk to Fernan's friend soon. They needed more information about what was happening and right now he was their only concrete lead.

"I see.", Erza replied honestly, "I'm not entirely sure what's going on between them at the moment but there's a lot of tension there. If they did go, I'm sure it would be pretty uncomfortable."

Lucy pouted, she really liked this guy. He seemed really interested in her although he did ask a lot of questions about her two friends. She brushed away the thought, Erza was just being paranoid. She thought about Michel's eyes and his smile and immediately began to feel butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She would talk Natsu and Gray into it, she was sure she could bribe them with something. She hoped Michel would try to kiss her today. She continued humming as she got herself ready.

ooooo

"What's the matter?", Gray asked Natsu as he saw a flicker of sadness cross his eyes as they walked.

"It's nothing. We just passed the fish market and it made me think of Happy. I hope he's ok with Lisanna."

"I'm sure he's fine. Knowing him he's keeping himself busy."

"I guess."

"Why don't you get him a souvenir?", Gray suggested, "I think I saw some blankets that had patterns on them. Maybe they'll have a fish one."

They retraced their steps to the vendor Gray had mentioned and looked through the blankets. They were able to find a bright orange one with pictures of blue fish on it and Natsu bought it. He looked a little more cheerful.

A heavenly smell invaded Natsu's nose and they quickly followed it to a vendor selling some kind of fried pastry that was filled with eggs and bacon wrapped in a pancake. They ordered two each and went to sit down on a bench once Gray had found some coffee and some juice for Natsu.

Even though it was a beautiful day they could see rain clouds headed their way. Gray had overheard some of the vendors talking about some unexpected flooding that had happened in nearby towns due to a storm. He told himself it was a coincidence. It rained all the time in Fiore, and only rarely did it have anything to do with him.

"This is really good. I think I'm going to get two more.", Natsu said, "Do you want another one?"

"No, I'm good.", Gray said, amazed as always by Natsu's immense appetite.

Natsu returned with his food and sat down to eat it. Gray watched him, trying to think of a way to bring up Andre without upsetting the fire mage. The opportunity came sooner than expected when a boy who looked to be about Fernan's age approached them to ask for their autographs. Natsu was much more recognizable in his regular clothes, although the pink hair was usually a dead giveaway. They signed some napkins and chatted briefly, Gramp's was always on them to be polite to their admirers and they usually didn't mind the timid ones.

As soon as the boy left Natsu became quiet and seemed to be looking off into space.

"NATSU?"

"What?", Natsu replied, unaware that his friend had been trying to get his attention for the last five minutes.

"What's wrong?", Gray asked but received no response.

"Is this about yesterday?", he tried again.

Natsu sighed not looking Gray in the eyes as he answered, "Everything's fine, Ice Block. Let's go do something else."

"You're being stupid, Flame Breath.", Gray said, "You should just go talk to him."

"I can't give him what Fernan wants.", Natsu said clenching his fists in frustration, "It wouldn't be right."

"What are you talking about?", Gray asked him. "He just wants you go talk to Andre and cheer him up."

"That's not true and you know it.", Natsu argued heatedly, "He wants me to waltz in there and tell Andre that I'm gay just like he is and everything's going to somehow be alright because of it. But it's not, because I'm not. I have no idea what he went through to get there and it's fucking insulting to pretend I have the slightest clue based on my few days of pretending."

"You're overthinking this.", Gray countered, "Now it's you who's letting the magazine control how you see yourself."

"Natsu, this kid admires you because you're a fire mage, like he is. He could give a rat's ass if you're gay or not. That's Fernan, not him. Okay fine, that might be cool for him but regardless he didn't go see you fight at the Grand Magic Games because he thought you were gay. He went because you're Natsu Fucking Dragneel, the Fire Dragon Slayer from Fairy Tail and I doubt that his feelings have changed. If the person that he admires can accept him for who he is then why wouldn't everything be ok?"

"Hell, if it will make you feel better, I'll even go with you to see him.", Gray offered.

"You actually listened.", Natsu said with surprise. Gray had been so drunk when he had tried to talk to him the previous day that Natsu was surprised he remembered anything.

"Yeah, I listened. You once asked me if your voice reached me.", Gray said seriously, "Maybe it's time you let my voice reach you."

"What if he asks me about it?", Natsu asked nervously.

"Then we'll deal with it together."

"Why the hell are you being so nice to me lately?", Natsu growled, once again trying to make sense of the change , "It's seriously messing me up."

Gray laughed, "Is it really that hard for you to accept?

"I've already told you, we're in this together.",Gray said, "But you know, maybe it's time we learn to communicate in ways that don't always involve our fists."

"We can't continue to count on Erza to keep us under control forever. At some point, we're going to have to grow up."

Natsu sat and thought about what Gray had just told him about Andre. He wanted to believe that the Snowflake was right. Finally, he decided he was willing to give it a try. It's what his heart wanted him to do anyway. They'd go talk to Andre. Just as he got fired up about the idea he realized that he had no idea where the boy lived.

"I don't know where he lives.", Natsu said sheepishly.

"Me either, let's go to Pegasus.", Gray suggested, "Maybe Fernan's stopped by or something."

He held out his hand and to his surprise Natsu grabbed it without any argument. They made their way to the club and Natsu asked one last thing.

"We're still going to fight though, right?"

"Yes, Natsu. I have a feeling that's something we'll always do."

ooooo

"Where are those two idiots?", Erza fumed.

She and Lucy had arrived at Pegasus expecting to find Natsu and Gray there when they weren't in their room. That had been hours ago and there was still no sign of them. Lucy had immediately latched herself to Michel as soon as he had arrived. Erza was going to protest but then decided that with Lucy watching his every move there was not much the man could really do.

Since the boys weren't here, Erza gave all of her attention to observing Michel. He seemed less interested in the blonde than he had the night before and Erza wondered if that had to do with the boys' absence or Lucy's current clinginess. For Lucy's sake, she hoped she was wrong about him.

ooooo

Natsu and Gray stopped at their hotel to drop off Happy's blanket and when they arrived at Blue Pegasus they found Fernan standing outside the club. They saw right away that things must not have gone well because the boy looked despondent. He looked up at them and then fixed his eyes squarely on Natsu, a silent plea to the Dragon Slayer to change his mind. Natsu was taken aback by the emotion in those eyes and he knew then that he had been right. Fernan was in love with Andre. He took a deep breath and he smiled at the teen.

"Well, what are you waiting for?", Natsu said praying that Gray was right, "Let's go see Andre."

Fernan blinked before running at Natsu and tackling him in a hug, "Thank you.", he whispered.

Gray laughed as he watched his boyfriend try to disentangle himself from the boy's clutches.

"Ok, ok. Let's go already.", Natsu grumbled.

They followed Fernan to a small house in a part of town they were not familiar with. Fernan knocked on the door excitedly and a woman opened it. She was tall, with long light brown hair and lovely grey eyes. She looked tired and much older than her years. When she saw Fernan her look became sad.

"I'm sorry, Fernan.", she said kindly, "I gave him the magazine like you asked, but he still just wants to be left alone. Maybe you should stop coming by for a few days. This isn't doing you any good either."

"You don't understand.", Fernan said, ignoring her words, "He's here, he agreed to come!"

"Who's here?", Andre's mom asked in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Natsu from Fairy Tail.", Fernan said, "Gray too!"

Andre's mom's eyes widened as she opened her door the rest of the way to find both Fairy Tail mages standing on her doorstep. She ushered them inside and closed the door behind them. She looked at the stairs and chewed her lip trying to think of the best way to handle this unexpected windfall. For weeks she had been forced to watch her son's spirit deteriorate and nothing she had tried had helped to bring her son out of the slough of despair he was in.

Natsu and Gray introduced themselves and shook her hand.

"Thank you for coming.", she said to both of the mages, "My name is Rika."

"You don't need to thank us.", Gray replied, "Fernan told us some of what happened. We'd like to help in any way we can. If I might be blunt, we need your help too. Our team has been hired to catch the men who did this to your son. We haven't been able to talk to any of the victims so we have very little information to go on at the moment. We were hoping that maybe you could bring Andre to Blue Pegasus tomorrow so that our colleague could ask him some questions."

"That said, I promise you that is not what our visit today is about. Even if he doesn't want to show up tomorrow it won't change anything. Fernan seems to think that meeting Natsu would cheer up your son", Gray reassured her even as he noticed Natsu still looked nervous.

"That's true, Natsu.", Rika smiled gently as she tried to hold the fire mage's gaze, "My son has always looked up to you. He was very excited when he discovered he had fire magic."

Natsu gave her an uncertain smile as he scratched the back of his head.

"Fernan do you think you can get Andre from his room?", Rika asked.

She waited for the boy to make his way into her son's room and looked at the two mages warily.

"I just want to make sure we understand each other, under no circumstances are you to bring up what happened unless he does. I think you can appreciate how difficult the last few weeks have been for him. This is more than any 14 year old can handle.", she said firmly, "I can't promise you that I can get him to the club tomorrow, but I will try. I would like nothing better than for this scum to be caught and from what I saw of the Rune Knights they are not going to do anything about it. I will have to set my hopes on you, from what Andre has told me Fairy Tail is a guild that gets things done.

"The Rune Knights would not really give me much information, can you tell me how many other attacks there have been?", Rika asked.

"There have been 10 attacks, including Andre.", Natsu said in a somber voice. He had not realized how young Andre was and the information fueled the cold anger that was developing towards the boy's attackers.

"And the other victims, were they all like my son?", she asked.

"Yes.", Natsu answered, not having the heart to tell her that one of them had been killed.

She cursed under her breath and her grey eyes shone like steel as she squared her shoulders. It looked like she was preparing herself for a fight. "I will help you however I can. No one should have to go through what Andre has."

They heard a door open and watched as Fernan dragged another boy out of the room. Andre was taller than Fernan. He looked too thin but based on his muscle tone that seemed to be a recent development . He had longish light brown hair, the same color as his mother, although his eyes were blue. It looked like he had not had a decent night's sleep in weeks. He looked at his visitors listlessly as he made his way down the stairs. His right arm hung in a cast, while his ribs were taped.

His mother watched but let him maneuver himself down the stairs and into an armchair in the living room. The chair was set a little further away from the rest of the seating but she made no comment, content to let him dictate the terms of his participation.

"Have you boys eaten yet?", Rika asked, "Why don't I go make you something?"

She got up and left them alone in the living room. There was an uncomfortable silence as they all looked at each other, not quite knowing how to start. Every now and again Andre would peer at the mages as if making sure they were really there. Fernan was staring at his friend unabashedly. It was the first time he had seen him in over three weeks and he was evaluating all the changes he could see while worrying about the ones he could only sense. Natsu became more and more convinced that this might very well be one of the worst ideas he had ever had. He did not know what to say and he began to get antsy in his seat. Gray noticed and tried to calm him down with marginal success.

Andre's mother finally returned with a large tray filled with enough food and drinks to feed a small army or in this case, four teenage boys.

Natsu immediately set about devouring the food with his usual loud enthusiasm, much to Gray's embarrassment. He was about to say something when he noticed Andre watching Natsu with something akin to fascination. It was the first time he had seemed present in the room.

"Does he always eat like that?", Andre asked Gray in wonder. His voice sounded awkward, as if it hadn't been used very much as of late.

Gray snorted, "Actually, this is him attempting to use his manners."

Andre continued to watch and a small smile began to tug at the corner of his mouth.

"Hey, my manners are just fine.", Natsu commented, bits of food falling out of his mouth as he talked. He reached for his drink to wash the food down.

"Hey Natsu, can you show me that thing you did at the Grand Magic Games where you wrote Come On on your fingers in fire? Andre told me about it.", Fernan asked trying to get his friend excited about something."

"Oh, you mean this?", Natsu asked as he concentrated. The words Come On appeared on his fingertips written in flames.

Andre's eyes lit up at the fire magic. There was a slight hunger there, a spark that had been missing.

"Do you think you could teach him how to do that?"

"If he wants to, I can try.", Natsu said.

"Is it true you can eat fire?", Andre asked, his curiosity slowly getting the better of him.

"Yeah, just not my own."

"What does it taste like?"

"They all taste different, I think it has to do with the mage that produces them. Some taste really good, others not so much.", Natsu explained, "I fought this guy once who was able to change the flavor of his flames. He tricked me into eating some that tasted like spoiled milk. It was disgusting!"

Andre wrinkled his nose at that but kept on with his questions, his voice becoming stronger with each one, "Are the Sabertooth Dragon Slayers your enemies?"

"Sting and Rogue? No, we became friends after the Games.", Natsu clarified, "We just hung out with them last week."

"Have you ever fought a Dark Guild"

"Several", Natsu grinned.

Natsu and Gray spent the next twenty minutes answering a steady stream of questions about Dragon Slayer Magic, Team Natsu and Fairy Tail. When he noticed Andre eyeing him hopefully, Natsu offered to teach him how to use his fire magic to mold fire into different shapes. Once he could do that he would be able to use his fire to write his own name, or anything else he wanted on his fingertips. Andre accepted eagerly and they spent an hour huddled together until he was able to do it. By the end he was sweating profusely from the effort but beaming with pride at having been able to learn new fire magic from his hero.

Andre and Natsu posed together for a picture, each smiling with their names perfectly visible in the flames that danced on their fingertips. Andre's mother took the picture, her eyes shining as she held back her happy tears from seeing her son come out of his shell for the first time in three weeks.

Natsu and Gray got up to leave. They figured Erza would organize a search party if they didn't get their asses back to Pegasus soon. They said their goodbyes and extended an invitation to visit them and meet the rest of the team at the club the following evening. Andre looked unsure but his mother replied with the same steel in her eyes as earlier. "We'll be there. I will talk to him about your colleague tonight."

As they left, Natsu overheard Andre talking to Fernan, "You did all that for me?" and smiled to himself hoping that things would look up for the two boys soon.

"Thank you.", Natsu said.

"I didn't do anything, Squinty Eyes", Gray replied, "That was all you."

"No, you were right.", Natsu said, "I was overthinking and I needed a push, I'm really glad I came. Even if it was really awkward in the beginning"

Gray chuckled, he could not disagree with that. It had been almost painful.

As they continued to walk Natsu noticed an Ice Cream Shop. "Come on, Icicle, you've earned yourself a reward. Get whatever you want, my treat."

Gray followed him in happily and after receiving their orders they sat inside the shop enjoying their treats. Natsu felt a surge of affection for the ice mage and for once didn't fight it. This was probably the best day they'd had since they had started this mission. He felt so much better than he had earlier and it was all thanks to Gray. When they left the shop he found himself offering his hand out for the ice mage to take. Gray looked at him with surprise but immediately smiled and grabbed it in his and they began their long walk back. The rain they had been expecting started soon after and they let go of each other as they raced towards the club both trying to be the first to get there.

They opened the club doors at the same time , the race ending the same way as most of their contests. They were both sopping wet from the rain and Natsu smirked in victory as he used his flames to dry himself, leaving Gray to fend for himself.

"I guess I'll have to go back to the hotel to change.", Gray frowned.

"You don't have to do that. Do you trust me?"

"Yes.", Gray replied without hesitation.

Natsu wrapped his arms around the ice mage as he covered them in his flames. Gray began to struggle until he realized that they weren't hot at all. Natsu's fire felt warm and inviting as it licked his body, like hot cocoa on a winter's day and Gray felt drawn to the flames. He wrapped his own arms around Natsu's body wanting to hold on to that feeling but the fire mage let go too soon for his liking.

"There you go, all dry.", Natsu smiled, "We should go find Erza."

Gray tensed as he heard the sound of Juvia's familiar sobs somewhere behind him. As much as he'd tried to tell himself that all the reports of flooding had nothing to do with him he'd known better. It wasn't fair, he'd been having such a nice day.

He turned and looked at Juvia with resentment, noticing Gajeel was with her. He wasn't sure why the two mages were here but he wasn't in the mood to be ridiculed or fawned over at the moment. He wanted to continue to explore this new peace that had developed between him and Natsu that day. Why did she have to show up now to ruin everything? How many times would she force him to break her heart until she accepted that he just didn't return her feelings? It wasn't fair to either of them and now that he was beginning to be confused about his own feelings he didn't feel up to her drama. He felt Natsu squeeze his shoulder in a show of solidarity as they headed to the table.

"Well, I'll be.", Gajeel said, . "If I hadn't just seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it."

Erza grinned to herself, those two were getting really good at acting like a couple. That last bit had been very believable. She saw Michel making his way to their table and frowned. He had just told Lucy he wanted to give her some time to spend with her friends. Erza ignored him for the moment as she fixed a glare at her two friends.

"Where have you been all day? If you were going to disappear you should have at least left us a note.", Erza scolded, "And why is Natsu wearing that? Hibiki is going to throw a fit."

Gray winked at Natsu and nodded. Natsu replied with a smirk, "My boyfriend picked it out so it should be fine."

Erza rolled her eyes at them but smiled. They looked oddly happy at the moment and she wondered briefly if maybe something could come out of this for them. She winced as another loud round of sobs came out of Juvia. She had tried to calm the water mage earlier with no luck. Gajeel wasn't even trying anymore, content to ignore her.

"We went to see Andre.", Gray began but stopped when Erza shook her head at him. He looked at her, not sure what was going on. She motioned for him and Natsu to follow her. They got up from their table and after getting Bob's attention made their way to one of the private rooms.

"I'm sorry. I don't trust that man that is hanging around Lucy.", Erza explained, "I'd rather not talk about the job in front of him."

Natsu immediately became concerned, "Do you think he's going to try to hurt her?"

"No, nothing like that, he just seems very interested in the two of you and it worries me.", Erza shrugged it off, "We know so little at this point that I don't want to take any chances. How did your visit go?"

"We weren't allowed to ask him any questions but I think Natsu was able to help him a little.",Gray told her, "His mom is very unhappy with the Rune Knights and she agreed to help us any way she can. She promised to bring Andre here tomorrow evening so that you can talk to him. He's only 14."

"Good, maybe we'll be able to finally make some progress."

"Did you say he's 14?", Bob blanched, "Gods, he shouldn't have even been here! I'll arrange some security for them while they're here and I'll make sure someone takes them home."

"Erza, what are Gajeel and Juvia doing here?", Gray asked.

"I would think Juvia's reason for being here would be quite obvious.", Erza replied, "I have no idea why Gajeel is here. They arrived shortly before you."

Gray sighed unhappily but resolutely followed Natsu and Erza back to their friends. Michel had seated himself next to Lucy. Gray noticed that Gajeel seemed to be glaring at the man but was not sure why since he was still too far away to hear any words. He felt Natsu stiffen next to him and asked him what was wrong.

"That Michel guy is asking Juvia questions about her relationship with you."

"With me? She doesn't have one."

"I know that, dumbass. It's just strange, plus he's upsetting her. Gajeel doesn't seem to like it much either and if we don't hurry he might do something about it."

Erza seemed to have caught on to Gajeel's body language as well because she hurried over to the table to try to defuse the situation. They hurried after her.

By the time they got to the table Erza had convinced Michel that it was in his best interest to leave them alone for the moment. Lucy stayed where she was when she saw the anger in Erza's expression. She had to admit even she had thought his questioning of Juvia was strange. Erza grabbed Juvia and took her to the bathroom to calm her down before she could flood the Blue Pegasus guild.

Natsu took a seat across from Gajeel. With Juvia gone for the moment Gray relaxed and sat himself between Natsu and Lucy.

"So, what are you guys doing here?", Natsu asked Gajeel.

"Someone had to make sure Juvia didn't do anything crazy.", Gajeel replied.

"And you just offered out of the kindness of your heart?"

"What can I say? I'm a nice guy."

Natsu rolled his eyes at the other Dragon Slayer. He noticed there was a large black bag at the Gajeel's feet and raised an eyebrow at him as he pointed at it. He noticed a faint flush in Gajeel's cheeks and wondered what was in the bag to make him react that way.

"So you're a fag, huh?", Gajeel asked him conversationally, "Can't say I saw that coming, although I do suppose it makes sense you'd take the Princess as your bitch. No one else can stand either one of you."

"What did you call him?", Natsu snarled as he quickly shot up from his chair and grabbed Gajeel by the metal collar of his tunic, his other fist already clenched and covered in fire.

"Idiot!", Gray hissed, "Sit down! He's just trying to get a rise out of you."

Gajeel snickered, pleased with the reaction he had teased out of the Fire Dragon Slayer. Natsu sat down grudgingly but continued to glare at him.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd be so whipped so quickly, Salamander!", Gajeel said as he looked at Gray admiringly, "You must be a great lay."

"What the fuck is your problem Redfox?", Gray growled at him getting ready to do exactly what he had warned Natsu against.

Gajeel stared at the two of them intently and laughed heartily at their expressions. He put both arms in the air in a placating gesture and said, "Relax, I just wanted to make sure you guys were on the up and up. Personally, I think it's about damn time. Watch out for Juvia though, Salamander, she's on the warpath."

"You came all the way here, just to mess with them?", Lucy asked incredulously.

"Nah.", Gajeel laughed good naturedly as his name was called on the loudspeakers, "That was just a bonus."

He quickly got up and removed his guitar from the black bag and placed his harmonica in his pocket. "It's open mic night, gihi.", he explained as he walked off to make his way towards the stage.

He looked back one last time and grunted at Lucy, "Oi, Bunny Girl, that guy you're with, I don't trust him. Watch yourself."

They all stared after him in disbelief and quickly began to groan as the sounds that Gajeel called music began to assault their ears.

Natsu still had too much pent energy after the exchange with Gajeel to remain sitting so he offered to go to the bar and order them some food and drinks.

Michel tried to get his attention but he ignored him.

Erza and Juvia finally returned to the table and Juvia made a point of sitting across from her beloved much to Gray's displeasure. She immediately grabbed on to one of his hands. He tried to shrug her off. He was still unsettled by Gajeel's verbal assault on them and he didn't feel ready to deal with her antics.

"Gray-sama", Juvia began weepily, "What is the meaning of this?" She took out a rather bedraggled copy of the cursed Sorcerer's Weekly and placed it accusingly on the table.

He stared at her sadly. Juvia was a beautiful girl, with a beautiful heart. He could never regret showing her that there was a different way to live than what she had experienced in Phantom Lord. Even if he had known the special kind of crazy that would enter his life after those events because of his actions, he would still have done it.

Unfortunately, he had somehow captured her imagination and she had created this whole fantasy world with him at its center. Complete with marriage, children and probably some house somewhere with a white picket fence for them to live in. There were days that he wished he could be all those things for her, but it was her fantasy, not his.

He had already wasted countless hours of his life explaining his feelings to her, letting her down gently, nurturing her feelings because underneath the obsession she was a nice girl. That had clearly been a mistake on his part. He saw her staring at the magazine cover and then at him waiting for some sort of explanation that would leave her fantasies intact and he had an idea. Not an idea that he was proud of but one that might set him free once and for all. Besides, the way he was feeling these days it's not even like he would be lying exactly.

This job was creating a situation for him that he would be a fool not to take advantage of. Maybe the problem with all his previous refusals was simply that she had never seen him with anyone else. He didn't date often and when he did he usually kept it outside of the guild, even more so after Juvia had joined for obvious reasons. He had never been in an actual relationship though. He saw Natsu coming towards him, his signature grin on his face as half a dozen waiters trailed behind him with tray upon tray of food and drinks for their table.

"I'm sorry Juvia, I'm in love with someone else.", Gray said trying to sound as sincere as he could.

Natsu saw Gray approach him, a strange look on his face. He tried to puzzle out what the expression meant just as he saw Gray look back at Juvia almost like he was making sure that she was watching. He felt strong arms wrap themselves around his waist, felt Gray pull his body closer to him. His mind was still struggling to catch up to the events as they were happening. He felt something warm press against his lips as he also heard loud sobs. He finally recognized that Gray was kissing him and quickly understood why. Another part of his brain recognized sadly that that was his first kiss and it had meant nothing.

He had already accepted that his first kiss would happen as part of this job. He had been ok with that. He was not, however, ok with being used to hurt someone else, someone that was also part of his family. He felt the sadness and disappointment in Gray quickly become overshadowed by cold fury. How dare he use him to get rid of Juvia? He pushed himself away from Gray who was looking at him nervously.

"You bastard!", Natsu growled as he punched Gray's jaw with more force than he could remember using in a long time. All pleasant thoughts from their day together were forgotten. He stormed out of the club.

"Natsu, wait!", Gray yelled after him, ignoring the pain that was quickly taking over his face, panic setting in as he realized how thoroughly he'd fucked up when he saw the hurt and betrayal on Natsu's face before the fury set in.

"What happened?", Gajeel asked having just returned from his set to find Juvia sobbing, Gray bleeding and Erza and Lucy's shocked faces. "Why did Salamander leave?"

He immediately looked for Lucy's friend who was talking on a personal communication device and hurrying outside ostensibly after Natsu.

"Oh no, you don't", Gajeel said as he ran after Michel.

The rest of them rushed outside as well.

Even Gajeel's dragon hearing missed the words that were uttered into a completely different device. "Now's your chance. Get the dragon slayer, he's alone."

ooooo

A/N I'm really sorry if you were expecting a big climactic scene with Juvia. I just wasn't feeling it. I'm not a fan of Juvia but I also try to not be a Juvia basher. Having been the victim of a stalker in my younger years I don't find her behavior cute or in any way acceptable and I identify more with Gray as the recipient of her unwanted affections. If you heart Gruvia, that's fine, to each their own, just don't expect it in my stories unless it's a setup for something else. Anyway, I preferred to have a climactic scene with Natsu and Gray. I had to stop this chapter here because otherwise it would just have been too long, plus also it will give you something to think about :-). So next chapter it will still be Thursday night going into Friday. I believe it will definitely end up being more than 10 chapters, but I'm not sure how many more.

As always thank you to everyone who has shown support and interest in this story. It's really exciting to see so many of you. I tried to reply to everyone who reached out to me but if I somehow missed you, I apologize.


	9. Heart In Pieces

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima, all others belong to me.

Chapter 9: Heart in Pieces

Michel ran outside the club still talking to someone on his communicator. He stopped for a moment to get his bearings when he felt someone grab him roughly from behind. His communicator shattered when it hit the ground.

"Where do you think you're going?", a gravelly voice growled.

Michel was turned around to look into the red eyes of Fairy Tail's Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel Redfox. He looked at him nervously, not used to being the recipient of such ire. Gajeel shook him roughly.

"What do you want with the Salamander?"

"I-I don't want a-anything.", Michel stuttered.

They heard the doors of the club slam behind them and they were suddenly joined by the other Fairy Tail mages. The redhead and the ice mage looked like they were out for blood. The water mage looked confused and he couldn't bear to look at Lucy so he made himself look at the ground instead.

"Wrong answer, asshole.", Gajeel roared, his fist moving back before he was restrained by the redhead.

"I swear, I'm not trying to hurt Natsu.", Michel pleaded.

"Gajeel, can you follow Natsu's scent?", Erza asked.

Gajeel searched for Natsu's scent and began running. They chased after him and almost ran into him when he suddenly stopped two minutes later.

"What's the matter?", Gray asked urgently, "Why did you stop?"

"The trail stops here.", Gajeel said, "He activated his magic and there's nothing more from him. There are other smells though. Other people were here."

He attempted to continue his search but soon gave up. "This area is too busy. There are just too many smells."

Gajeel turned, grabbed hold of Michel's throat and lifted him in the air glaring at him with his glowing red eyes.

"Gajeel, stop this.", Erza bellowed, "We're wasting time. Everyone start checking the streets around the club. Don't stray too much past a quarter mile radius. Focus on the alleys. I don't know how much time we have. Be careful, there might be masers involved. Meet back here in 10 minutes."

"Gray, go back inside and talk to Master Bob. Tell him Natsu is missing and we need backup.", Erza commanded.

"What? No. Have Lucy talk to Master Bob.", Gray argued, "I need to look for him."

"Gray, you are another potential victim.", Erza attempted to reason with him, "It will be safer for you if you stay behind."

"Fuck being safe.", Gray yelled, "You can't really expect me not to do anything."

"I think you've already done quite enough.", Erza said angrily, "Now go, that's an order. Get that jaw looked at while you're at it. "

Gray wanted to argue further but he knew it was pointless. He ran inside the club in search of the Blue Pegasus Master.

"Michel, you're with me.", Erza said then added in a more menacing tone, "I'm choosing to trust you for the moment but if I find you have anything to do with Natsu getting hurt, I will make you regret ever being born. Do you understand?"

Michel nodded dumbly, too terrified to say anything.

"Don't just stand there looking at each other. GO. NOW!", Erza shouted.

They all began to scatter in different directions searching for any traces of the Fire Dragon Slayer or his attackers. Ten minutes later they all returned to their meeting spot empty handed.

The Trimens were standing off to the side of the club and they motioned them over. Hibiki was using his archive magic.

"I'm going to upload a map of the surrounding area directly to your minds.", Hibiki explained as the mages received the information, "I should also be able to communicate with you now that I have a link to you. Let me know if you can't hear me in your head."

"Eve and Ren are going to help you search.", Hibiki said, "I will stay at the club to coordinate your efforts. If you run into trouble speak my name and I should be able to hear you. I will send help your way. Good luck."

"Hibiki?", Hibiki heard Erza's voice in his head.

"Erza?"

"Make sure Gray stays at the club. He is not part of this search."

"Understood."

He made his way back inside and nodded to his Master to let him know that he had followed his orders. He went up to the second floor to check on Gray, who was being looked at by the Blue Pegasus healer.

Gray was glaring at the healer, who was looking a tad bit intimidated. He was not used to this type of behavior from his patients. He thought that the Fairy Tail healer must be something else if they could handle patients reacting this way to treatment regularly.

"How is he?", Hibiki asked.

"His jaw is broken and he's made it worse by talking.", the healer sighed, "He's also very impatient."

"Healing a bone break like this takes a bit of time to be done correctly."

"Take your time, he has nowhere to be at the moment.", Hibiki assured the healer.

When Gray began to protest Hibiki shushed him and said, "Sorry Gray, Erza just put you on ice."

"I have always wanted to say that to you and Lyon.", he chuckled amusedly.

"Anyway,", he coughed uncomfortably as Gray directed his glare at him, "everyone is out searching. They haven't found anything yet."

Hibiki stayed with Gray until his treatment was finished. The two mages made their way back to the room that they would use as mission central.

"Alright, return to base.", Hibiki said as he talked to his screen.

Gray sat slumped in a chair waiting for the others to return with news. A thought struck him.

"Hibiki, did anyone think to check our hotel?"

Hibiki cursed under his breath at their stupidity. "Erza, Gray would like to know if anyone has checked your hotel."

"I'll let him know.", Hibiki said out loud.

He looked at Gray and said, "Erza just sent Lucy and Juvia."

Gray nodded.

"I know we're not close or anything, but do you want to talk about whatever happened?", Hibiki asked kindly, "You look pretty miserable."

"Thanks, but no. I'm still trying to make sense out of it myself.", Gray replied.

"I'm sure he's going to be fine.", Hibiki tried to reassure him, "It's Natsu after all."

"Have you ever been hit by a maser?", Gray asked, his voice soft.

"No."

"I have.", Gray shuddered at the recollection, "Once, during a mission with Loke. Nasty things, they can be shot from 15-30 feet away depending on the model. It doesn't matter how strong you are. If it hits you, it will emit electric pulses into your body that will make it so you can't control your muscles. Even though the effect of the pulse only lasts 30 seconds or so that's a very long time in a fight. Even worse, as you lie there unable to move you will feel your magical energy being drained out of you. It is excruciating in every way. If Loke hadn't shown up when he did, I don't know if I'd be here right now."

Hibiki had no response to that so he busied himself with his Archive and prayed that Natsu would not be subjected to that.

ooooo

Natsu slammed the door behind him. He didn't even stop to think of where he was going. He began to run, as hard and as fast as he could. Trying to outdistance the anger and the betrayal but mostly the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him.

'What the everloving hell?', Natsu thought as he continued to run, 'How could he do that to her, to me?'

He heard steps behind him, voices yelling "There he is!", but he ignored them. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. He wanted to be alone, so he cast his magic.

"Fire Dragon: Claw"

His feet instantly ignited and he used the added speed boost to distance himself even further from Blue Pegasus, this mission and Gray Fullbuster. When his magic fizzled out he continued to run until he finally felt the need to stop.

He took in his surroundings and was surprised to see he actually recognized where he was. Perhaps he had chosen a direction after all. He was about 5 miles away from the Sabertooth Guild. Once he realized that he decided to make his way there, if he was already this close it couldn't hurt to go see Rogue.

ooooo

Erza walked through the door to the mission center with Michel following closely behind her. As soon as Gray saw the man he grabbed him by the collar and began yelling at him.

"Where is he? What have you done with him?"

"Back off, Gray. We don't know that he did anything.", Lucy said as calmly as she could manage at the moment. Gray let go of the man's collar but continued to glare at him.

"Are you really defending him, Lucy?", Gray said, not quite wanting to believe she would pick a complete stranger over one of her friends, especially Natsu.

"I'm not doing anything of the sort. All you guys have done is accuse him. You haven't given him a chance to speak.", Lucy said.

She made her way over to Michel who was trying to avoid looking at her.

"Do you know anything about where Natsu is?", Lucy asked Michel in the kindest voice she could muster. She was just as upset as everyone else, perhaps even more so but if they were going to get anywhere with Michel he would need to think that she was on his side.

Michel shook his head sadly. "I don't. I wish I did."

"Who are you?", Lucy asked.

"I'm a reporter. I was sent to write an article on Natsu and Gray after the Sorcerer's Weekly issue came out.", Michel answered.

Hibiki heard yelling outside of the room and went to check it out. Eve and Ren were trying to keep the Sorcerer's Weekly Reporter from entering the room.

"It's important. I need to talk to Erza.", Jason repeated loudly, trying to make himself heard inside the room he was attempting to enter.

"Let him in.", Erza commanded.

Jason entered and looked around. He observed HIbiki's archive for a minute, enthralled by it.

"Jason?", Erza eyed him warily, "You wanted to see me?"

"Oh, yeah.", Jason shook his head as if to clear it and looked at Erza, "I have news. I just talked to my source. The Rune Knights have placed an undercover agent in this club."

"Hang on a minute.", Hibiki asked, he started speaking softly into his Archive and Master Bob appeared a few minutes later.

As he waited Jason noticed Gray staring at him and made sure to stay clear of him remembering Lucy's words. He inched closer to Erza.

"An undercover agent?", Erza furrowed her brows as she thought about the implications of the news.

"Why?, I thought they weren't interested.", Bob said, his tone bitter at how the Council had treated the attacks so far.

"It seems the Rune Knights reported your visit to the Magic Council. When they got word of Fairy Tail's interest in the matter they began to worry about how they would look to the public.", Jason answered.

"So they want to be able to say that they were doing something all along.", Gray spat out in disgust. Leave it to the Council to care more about their image than about actually doing their job.

Jason nodded. "That's the way I see it too."

"Hey Jason, didn't we agree to an exclusive with you?", Gray asked the reporter.

"Yes you did, why?", Jason asked with interest.

Gray motioned to Michel, "This guy claims that he's a reporter sent to do an article on us."

Jason walked over to Michel who was once again looking at the floor.

"Look at him.", Erza commanded.

Michel looked up at Jason, he looked nervous. There was a thin sheen of sweat covering his skin and though he was looking at Jason he was avoiding eye contact.

"I've never seen him before.", Jason announced.

"Well….Do you know every reporter in this area?", Lucy asked with deepening dismay. Part of her still wanted Michel to be the guy she thought he was, even though that possibility seemed more and more unlikely by the minute.

"Actually, I do. There aren't that many of us.", Jason replied, "We get together regularly."

"Show me your press credentials.", he demanded.

Michel shook his head,"I don't have any.", he mumbled.

Bob said smugly, "I think we just found our undercover agent."

"Is that true?", Gray yelled in Michel's face. He wished Gajeel was here. He hated to admit it but the Iron Dragon Slayer was more intimidating than he was.

Michel nodded, he looked like he might burst into tears at any moment. He was young, too young to be doing his current assignment but his superiors had worried that if they sent someone older they would not be able to get close enough to the Fairy Tail mages to piggyback off of their investigation. In the last hour, he'd been manhandled, threatened, and yelled at. Thankfully no one had hit him yet and he was hoping that now that they knew he was with the Magic Council it wouldn't come to that. He felt really badly for leading Lucy on, especially since she had been the only one defending him through this whole ordeal but he'd tried to do the right thing. He'd tried to back off when Natsu and Gray weren't around. Crap, he hated his job.

"Where are Gajeel and Juvia?", Lucy asked noticing their absence for the first time.

"They're at the hotel waiting to see if Natsu shows up.", Erza said, "I figured they'd be best utilized there. Gajeel said he might go out and search some more later. He suggested we contact the other Dragon Slayers but I think we can hold off for now. "

"So let me get this straight, you're a Rune Knight?", Gray asked.

Michel nodded.

"And when you were talking into your communicator?", Gray prompted.

"I was trying to keep him safe.", Michel said quietly.

Gray kicked the nearest object he could find which ended up being a chair, it hit the wall before bouncing back torn in pieces. Kind of like the state of his heart right now. He was furious at himself. He kept seeing Natsu's betrayed look in his mind and it made him feel like shit. If he'd had any chance with the Dragon Slayer, it was far gone now. He wished he had never pulled that stunt. He wondered where his stupid Flame-Brain was, not even noticing that he had already claimed him as his in that thought.

ooooo

Rogue awoke to the sound of loud knocking at his door. Frosch entered his room rubbing his eyes and saying, "There's someone downstairs."

"Yes, I can see that.", Rogue replied. He looked at the boy sleeping next to him and frowned. Just once it would be nice if Sting would wake up for these things. He'd never met anyone else who could sleep so deeply. Maybe Natsu, it must have something to do with their neverending energy, he mused.

He got up and made his way to the door, not bothering to dress himself. Whoever was willing to wake him up at this ungodly hour would just have to deal with seeing him in his damn underwear. The knocks continued.

"I'm coming already.", he called out. The knocking stopped as the person outside waited more patiently. Was that Natsu he smelled?

He opened the door to see it was indeed Natsu Dragneel standing at his doorstep at 2 o'clock in the morning.

"Natsu? What are you doing here so late?", Rogue asked as he let his friend into the house. He noticed the redness around the eyes and became immediately concerned.

"Is everything alright?", he asked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know what time it was.", Natsu said in apology, "I went to Sabertooth but it was closed so I looked for you here."

"Do you want me to come back later?", he asked. He looked pitiful, his eyes begging him to let him stay.

Rogue sighed, "It's fine. I'm already awake."

"Just….. go take a shower, you reek.", Rogue said wrinkling his nose in distaste, "I'll get you some of Sting's clothes to wear, you're more similar in size."

Natsu made his way to the bathroom and took a hot shower, washing off the griminess of his travel. When he opened the shower curtain he found Rogue waiting for him. He handed him a towel and some clothes and waited patiently as Natsu put himself back together.

He looked at the clothes and blushed. "Sting is staying over?"

"He's not staying over. Sting is my mate Natsu. He lives here."

"I should go.", Natsu said uncomfortably.

"Don't be stupid.", Rogue said, "The man sleeps as soundly as you do."

"Now, why are you here?"

Natsu still looked uncomfortable but he shrugged it off. "I don't suppose you have any food? I was about to eat before I left and that was hours ago."

Rogue snorted and rolled his eyes. Natsu Dragneel and food. "Come on, let's see what we have in the kitchen."

He began to make some tea for the two of them. Frosch came up to Natsu and looked at him expectantly.

"Is Happy with you?"

"I'm sorry, Frosch. He's not."

Frosch climbed on Natsu and sat on his lap letting the obviously upset mage pet him.

Rogue handed him some tea and made him a sandwich.

"Thanks.", Natsu said before he devoured everything. Rogue handed him another one with a smile.

"Now, what's the matter?", Rogue asked, "Does this have anything to do with the Sorcerer's Weekly that came out yesterday?"

"You saw that?"

"Natsu, everyone has seen that.", Rogue said drily, "It's Sorcerer's Weekly. Sting was very excited, he really likes the idea of you and Gray together."

"He's gotten it into his head that we should be next, now that you have paved the way or some sort of nonsense like that."

"Why didn't you tell me that he was moving in with you?", Natsu asked Rogue, "I thought we were friends.". He looked hurt.

Rogue sighed. "It's not like I sent out announcements, Natsu. We haven't really told anyone. I told you we were mates, I haven't admitted that to very many people."

"I don't expect you to understand this but not everyone thinks that two men being together is a good thing. There's a lot of hate out there. That's why I was surprised you did the magazine when you had just started dating only a week ago."

"I didn't exactly have a choice.", Natsu admitted.

"What do you mean?", Rogue asked with concern, "Did Gray force you?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, that stripper can't make me do anything!", Natsu exclaimed angrily. Except that was bullshit and he knew it. That stripper had made him question his feelings, and take a chance on Andre, and kiss him among other things.

"Then who?"

"We were at Blue Pegasus and some guy was grabbing Gray and trying to touch him so I came to his defense. I yelled at him to get his hands off my boyfriend and Jason from Sorcerer's Weekly heard me."

Rogue winced in sympathy. "Ouch, that's rough."

"Wait a minute, you were at Blue Pegasus? That's like 40 miles away!", Rogue exclaimed, his red eyes immediately narrowed as he remembered the state Natsu had arrived in, "Natsu, what the hell happened?"

"Gray kissed me.", Natsu blurted out.

"You traveled 40 miles in one night because Gray kissed you?", Rogue asked puzzled, "Aren't you dating?"

"It's not that simple.", Natsu tried to explain, "He didn't kiss me because he wanted to, he kissed me to get Juvia off his case. Truth be told, I don't even know if I wanted him to kiss me."

"Oh, Natsu.", Rogue said sadly, "I'm so sorry. I keep forgetting this is all so new to you."

Natsu wanted to tell him about the job, about how he was pretending to be gay but he couldn't. He was so angry and confused and hurt. Rogue was being a good friend and trying to help him. He was beginning to think he might need the help and he didn't want to disappoint Rogue.

"Alright, why don't you tell me what's going on.", Rogue said as he poured them another cup of tea. He went into his pantry and took out a box of cookies. He opened them and placed them between them.

Natsu grabbed a cookie and began telling his friend everything that had happened between him and Gray since Saturday. Every comment, every gesture Gray had made. He then told him about everything he had done and felt before the disastrous kiss. He did end up admitting he had only been pretending to be gay for a job, although he did not tell him what the job was, and how now he wasn't sure he was pretending anymore.

When he had finished telling him everything Rogue got up and walked over to Natsu. He wrapped him up in a hug.

"I'm sorry you're hurting, Natsu.", Rogue said as he ran his fingers through Natsu's hair and kissed the top of his head, "But I'm happy you told me the truth. Let's not tell Sting for now until we know for sure where you're at, ok? He's very attached to the idea of the two of you."

Rogue said seriously, "He's been planning outings for all of us. It's starting to worry me a little to tell you the truth. When he read the article he was all for going to Blue Pegasus to hang out. I'm expecting him to suggest it this morning seeing as it will be Friday."

"Why is he so into this?", Natsu asked confused.

"You have to understand, he has looked up to you for as long as I can remember", Rogue said, "He wanted to be strong and go on missions and help others, just like you. I suspect, if you had not disappeared for all those years we would have joined Fairy Tail instead of Sabertooth. When we were in the Grand Magic Games and you showed up at our hotel to defend Yukino it opened up our eyes to how far we had strayed from our original goals. When you defeated us in our fight he couldn't have been happier, you once again became the hero that he measured himself up against. When we told you that we were mates and you didn't freak out I think it finished cementing his hero worship. When he saw you holding hands with Gray last week it just blew his mind because now he could really be just like you."

Natsu looked at him wide eyed. He knew that Sting liked him but he had never realized how much he meant to him.

"Anyway back to your problem, I can't tell you if you're gay or not, only you can know that.", Rogue told him, "Let's forget feelings for a second, let's get very basic. Do you find Gray physically attractive? You don't have to answer out loud, but be honest with yourself. To be fair that in itself won't tell you if you're gay. Human sexuality is very complicated but you can worry about that later, if it ever becomes important. Right now we are just focusing on Gray."

Natsu thought about it and quickly decided that he did find Gray physically attractive. He liked looking at Gray when he wasn't aware of it. Had enjoyed holding hands with him as well as the hugs they had shared. He liked feeling the ice mage's body against his. He could even imagine he might have enjoyed the kiss if it had been honest.

"As for feelings, based on what you have told me it sounds to me like he has feelings for you.", Rogue said, "I mean I could be wrong and he might be a fantastic actor but I can't really see him bothering to do so."

"It is my guess that Gray might already know that he's gay and maybe his initial reluctance to do the mission might have stemmed from him being worried that you might find out.", Rogue said, "Ever wonder how he knew where that bar was? It's a fairly well kept secret. Or even why he seems so much more comfortable with the situation than you?"

"I don't know about all that, he was pretty miserable on Saturday when he was getting hit on by all those guys,", Natsu pointed out.

"That doesn't mean anything. Gray is not a very social person.", Rogue answered, "He likes to keep to himself. He's friendly but he sticks to the people he is comfortable with, which seem to be mostly the people he grew up with. I imagine that might be part of his problem with Juvia, she forces him to have interactions that he doesn't want just like those men at Blue Pegasus. It sounds like he stopped paying attention to anyone else the moment you started exchanging notes. Like I said, it's only my guess. I could certainly be wrong. At the very least he is acting like he is into you."

"As far as the kiss is concerned, I agree with you that the way he kissed you was wrong. He owes both you and Juvia an apology." , Rogue continued, " I'm not trying to excuse it and if you decide to move forward I suggest you have an honest talk about it. But just to play devil's advocate maybe the desire to be rid of Juvia once and for all gave him the courage to do something he had wanted to do already which was kiss you."

"You need to think about what you feel and what you want to do about it,", Rogue said, "and I suggest you do so before you return to Blue Pegasus. I'm going back to bed while I still can. You're welcome to stay in your usual room."

"Rogue, can I ask you something?", Natsu asked nervously.

Rogue raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what this was about. "Sure, ask away."

"Are you happy with Sting?"

"Yeah, I really am.", Rogue smiled at Natsu, "I hope someday soon you will be happy too."

"I'm glad.", Natsu said honestly flashing him a smile that melted Rogue's heart.

Rogue gave Natsu one last hug. "Good night, Natsu. I'll see you in the morning."

He picked up Frosch, who had long ago fallen asleep in Natsu's lap, and carried him back to his room. He thought that if he were not hopelessly in love with Sting Eucliffe he could have easily fallen in love with Natsu Dragneel.

"Good night, Rogue."

Natsu made his way to the guest room and promptly fell asleep. He was really glad he came, Rogue always explained things in a way that made sense.

ooooo

Erza had sent them all back to the hotel. There was nothing more to be done that night. Gajeel stayed with Gray while a cot was added in the girl's room for Juvia.

"Go to bed Gray, there is nothing you can do right now.", Gajeel said from his place in the sofa. Neither one of them had wanted to share the bed. "Tomorrow is another day, man."

"I can't." Gray said in a lower voice, "He could be dead and it would be all my fault."

"How the hell would it be your fault?", Gajeel sat up, "Salamander had a temper tantrum and left the building, if something happened to him it's on him."

"He didn't have a temper tantrum, he was perfectly justified.', Gray said.

"What are you saying?"

"I kissed him to get Juvia to leave me alone.", Gray said with shame.

"Yeah so, he's your boyfriend ain't he?"

"Maybe, but that's the first time I kissed him and it wasn't even entirely about him. Natsu's not like you and me. He's

honest, like ridiculously so. You didn't see the look on his face, I hurt him."

"If you ask me, he's off somewhere clearing his head. He just doesn't want to be found. He'll be back tomorrow, you'll see. I'll stick around until he does. Now, turn off the damn light or do you want me to knock you out?"

Gray did as requested and he heard Gajeel's loud snores fill the room soon after. He tried to sleep he really did but he never could get Natsu's face out of his mind. He could no longer pretend to himself that he didn't have feelings for the idiot. Ever since Natsu had punched him and stormed out that door his world had come to a standstill. He was worried sick, and the guilt was gnawing away at him as well. All he could think about was that the last mage they had attacked had been killed. If they killed Natsu, he didn't know what he would do.

He promised every deity out there that if Natsu was returned to him alive he would apologize to Juvia and have a serious talk with her and try to work things out with Natsu. He would also try to stop bending the truth to suit his needs. He knew that would be much harder but he would do it. If Natsu came back.

ooooo

A/N I am publishing this early to celebrate reaching 100 kudos in AO3. That's crazy!


	10. Apologies

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima, all other characters belong to me.

Chapter 10: Apologies

Natsu woke to the sound of Sting and Rogue bickering.

"You can see him later Sting. Let him sleep, he's exhausted. He came all the way from Pegasus.", Rogue said firmly, "We'll head over to Sabertooth when he gets up."

"But I wanted to see him before I left for the guild.", Sting whined at his mate, "We're still going to Pegasus this afternoon, right?"

"Yes, I'll talk to Natsu about dinner when he wakes up."

"I'm up, I'm up", Natsu said as he grudgingly got out of bed and walked out of the guest room. He was still exhausted from the previous evening but he remembered what Rogue had said about Sting and didn't want to disappoint the White Dragon Slayer.

"You look like shit.", Sting observed taking in the bags under Natsu's eyes and the uncharacteristic sullen look on his friend's face.

"Nice to see you too.", Natsu groused at his friend, "I had a rough night."

"What's this about dinner?", he asked.

"We wanted to see if you and Gray wanted to join us for dinner tonight.", Rogue said. "There's this new restaurant that opened up near Blue Pegasus that Sting has been wanting to try. It's an all you can eat type of place."

"Clearly they have no dragon slayers in that town.", Sting said with a twinkle in his eye, "What do you say, Natsu? Want to show them the foolishness of their ways?"

"Fine by me, I'll go with you guys even if the Princess doesn't want to.", Natsu replied not particularly looking forward to the upcoming conversation he'd have to have with Gray.

Sting looked at him strangely but chose not to comment. He didn't know why Natsu had come to visit them so late but judging by his appearance something was eating away at him.

Natsu had not had a chance to really think about how he felt or what he wanted to do yet. He decided he would stay at Sabertooth for the day and head back to Blue Pegasus with Sting and Rogue. He just needed to make sure he got there before Andre was scheduled to arrive.

ooooo

Gray got dressed as soon as the sun came up. He made his way out of the room quietly so as not to disturb Gajeel, who was still snoring away. He made his way over to Blue Pegasus to see if there had been any news since the previous night.

The club was empty of any members or customers, the only person present was Master Bob who was getting things ready for another day at the guild. He looked up when he heard the door open and was not surprised to see the ice mage. He looked Gray over and was not happy with what he saw.

"Did you get any sleep last night?", Bob asked him, already knowing the answer.

Gray shook his head, "Not really, but I'm fine."

'Sure you are', Bob thought to himself. He went into the kitchen and made them both breakfast. He returned fifteen minutes later and placed the plates at a table along with a pot of coffee and sat down gesturing at Gray to join him.

Gray sat down but mostly played with the food on his plate.

"I contacted Maki after you all left last night. I've been giving him updates nightly since you arrived.", he chuckled, "He really loves you brats. He's sending some of your guild mates to help search for Natsu. They should arrive here by this evening, I am sending Ren and Eve to pick them up on the Christina. Personally, I think it's a waste of time but I couldn't talk him out of it. He's a stubborn one, reminds me of a certain missing Dragon Slayer."

He stopped and chuckled to himself, amused by something only he seemed to be privy to before he continued to speak.

"Now I don't know what happened between the two of you to cause Natsu to be so angry, and I don't need to know. Here's what I do know from watching you. The two of you have been toeing over this invisible line between friendship and something more for the last few days."

Gray immediately began to protest but stopped when Bob gave him a knowing look.

"Don't bother to deny it. I spend most of my time observing people from behind the bar and I was paying special attention to the two of you. Maki would never forgive me if something happened to any of you while on this job. You were lost the moment you saw him Saturday night and it's only gotten more obvious since."

"So I understand that you're worried, it's only natural when someone you care about might be in danger. That said, I don't see Natsu going down so easily, not as mad as he was. I would pity anyone who had gotten in his way when he left here, if your broken jaw was any indication of his mood. I truly believe that if he had been attacked there would have been some sign. He's not exactly subtle. More than likely he went somewhere to calm down and we'll see him come through those doors at any moment just itching to have a fight with you." Bob smiled at him kindly.

Gray found his eyes straying to the doors willing Bob's words to be true but of course the doors remained closed. He looked at his plate and began to put food in his mouth, not really tasting it but recognizing the necessity of eating. Chew, swallow, repeat he continued this pattern until there was no food left on his plate.

Bob got up and cleared their plates as he gently squeezed Gray's shoulder.

"Have faith."

He went to make his way back to the kitchen when Gray stopped him.

"Wait."

Bob turned around and looked at him questioningly.

"You said you've been watching us and that I'm very obvious. What about him?"

Bob sighed, he had been expecting this question but he had no clear answer to give.

"He's….. not as obvious.", Bob hesitated before continuing, trying to figure out how to explain his thoughts, "I can tell he's confused, I'm just not sure whether he's confused about himself or your behavior towards him. He hides everything behind that blinding smile of his. I don't envy you that."

With that he disappeared into the kitchen to continue the day's setup.

Gray went outside searching the streets surrounding the club, telling himself that he was trying to find something the others might have missed in the dark. The truth was that he needed to get up and move around. He couldn't just sit all day doing nothing, the thoughts that were flooding his mind would have surely driven him crazy. He returned to Pegasus after noon, no closer to finding Natsu than they had been the previous night but somewhat calmer. He made his way to the bar and sat down, tired after hours of walking in the heat on no sleep. Bob looked him over and handed him a mug with black coffee that he accepted gratefully.

"Any news?", he asked hopefully.

Bob shook his head and made his way back to his other customers.

Gray sat on his stool staring at the mug in front of him. The steam rising from his drink reminded him of Natsu's warmth and he wrapped his hands around the mug trying to recapture how he'd felt when Natsu was drying him off the night before. He felt eyes watching him and turned to look,trying to figure out who it might be. He noticed Juvia sitting at a table with the others and went back to watching the steam.

He heard footsteps getting closer and he didn't have to be a Dragon Slayer to know who they belonged to. He braced himself for the conversation that was coming. One that he had no right to try to get out of after his actions the previous night. The stool next to him moved as the water mage sat down next to him.

"Gray-sama", Juvia looked at him and paused as she tried to analyze his expression.

She had spent a lot of time observing the man that she called her beloved. She could tell when he was happy, well as happy as he ever was. Her beloved was not what you would call an exuberant person. She could tell when he was angry, that one was easy and was usually caused by Natsu or Lyon. Any other emotion he kept well hidden under a smirk or a scowl but Juvia had gotten good at sleuthing even those out because she was persistent and frankly she was always hoping to find an expression that was just for her, she had been waiting for that moment since she had joined Fairy Tail to be closer to him. A look that was something more than frustration or annoyance, one that said that he was happy to see her and wanted her by his side, but it had yet to come.

The expression that he had now was not one that she could remember having seen before and it made her nervous because she had no clue what was going through Gray's mind.

"Juvia is sorry.", Juvia said simply, "Gajeel told Juvia that she had upset Gray-sama with her actions last was not Juvia's intention."

Gray turned to look at her in surprise. What on Eathland was she doing apologizing to him? She hadn't done anything wrong.

"There is no reason for you to apologize, Juvia.", Gray exhaled slowly, "I should be apologizing to you. I was the one that was in the wrong and I'm sorry. I just wish that you would understand that while I really care for you-"

"I knew it! I knew you only kissed Natsu-san to try to make me jealous!", Juvia interrupted and almost jumped out of her stool in her excitement. Her body tingled with happiness at her beloved's confession.

"You're still not listening!", Gray yelled angrily. He tried to calm down when he saw her excitement replaced with tears, glistening in the corner of her eyes.

"Can you please, just listen to me?", he asked her, softening his tone, "I want to be your friend Juvia, I do, but I can't be anything more than that. I wasn't trying to make you jealous. I just wanted you to let me go."

"Please Juvia, just let me go.", he beseeched her.

"But Gray-sama, I know I can make you happy if you just gave me a chance.", Juvia pleaded with him.

"Maybe you could, but I could never make you happy and you deserve better than that. You deserve someone who loves you for who you are. I'm not that person. Look at me Juvia, without the hearts in your eyes . What do you see? What do you even really know about me?"

"Juvia sees someone who is strong and powerful and kind to his friends, who cares about others more than himself and wants to help them."

"You're describing Natsu, Juvia, not me. What you should be seeing is someone who has no trouble using one friend to hurt another just so he can get what he wants. Is that really someone you want to be with?"

"That's not true, Gray-sama would never do that.", Juvia protested.

"I would and I did. You only see what you want to when it comes to me. I'm not perfect, hell I'm not even a very nice person. You have to let me go Juvia. Move on so that I can move on too. I might have gone about it the wrong way but I still meant what I said last night, I'm in love with someone else."

She looked at him again, beginning to understand the emotions hidden behind his unfathomable expression. She stared at him with an intensity that began to make him feel uncomfortable even as he saw her trying to control the tears that were threatening to spill out of her eyes at any moment.

"It's Natsu-san isn't it?", Juvia finally said, "The magazine was telling the truth."

Gray nodded, still not trusting himself to say it out loud.

"Does he love you too?"

"I have no idea.", Gray admitted honestly, "It's very possible he hates me at the moment. What I did wasn't very nice to either one of you."

"Juvia doesn't think Natsu-san is capable of hating anyone.", Juvia said after some thought, "If Gray-sama can't love Juvia then at least Juvia is glad that he loves Natsu-san and not Love-Rival."

Gray laughed a little at that, that was somehow so her.

"Do you think you could put in a good word for me with Lyon?", Juvia smiled at him shyly.

"It's probably best I don't, he'll just think it's a plot to take you away from him somehow.", Gray chuckled, "You know the more I think about it the more I think the two of you are perfect for each other."

On impulse he gave the water mage a hug. "Thank you, Juvia."

Juvia blushed at the unexpected affection. She had finally gotten the look she had been waiting for. Perhaps it wasn't the love she had hoped for but it was a love nonetheless and she intended to be worthy of it.

"Don't give up on him, Gray-sama.", Juvia advised, "Love is always worth fighting for, all the way to its end."

She got up from her seat and said, " I'll leave you alone now."

Her love had asked her to let him go and she would do just that no matter how much it hurt at the moment. She left him to his coffee and made her way outside of the club to mourn in private the feelings she had held dear for so long.

Gray joined Gajeel and his team at their table. They were trying to make plans with the little information they had.

Gajeel looked at him and said, "You could have handled that worse, Ice Block.", letting him know that he had heard his conversation with Juvia.

Gray snorted at Gajeel's roundabout way of giving a compliment but at least he was glad that he had managed not to piss him off. Gajeel might pretend to not care about the situation but Gray knew that the Iron Dragon Slayer was very protective of Juvia and Gray's treatment of her was one of the reasons for the friction between them.

ooooo

Natsu was not any closer to understanding his feelings or knowing what he wanted to do. He had spent the morning at Sabertooth sparring with Sting which had made him feel somewhat better and when Sting had left to attend to his Master duties he'd gone swimming with Yukino and the Exceeds in the guild pool. He caught the celestial mage up on Lucy and her spirits. He had felt Rogue's disapproving stare on him but had managed to avoid any further conversation on the topic of Gray and his potential love life.

He would have to face the Ice Princess and his feelings soon enough and after doing nothing but thinking about this job and the situation they were forced into and everything that came from that for the past week, he just wanted to relax for awhile and feel like himself.

Sooner than he would have liked it was time to head to Blue Pegasus with a very excited Sting who talked non stop of all the things they were going to eat that evening. They boarded the train, making sure to tell the conductor of their destination as well as their motion sickness so that he could make sure they did not to miss their stop. They endured an uncomfortable one hour train ride in silence before the conductor came to get them. Both Sting and Natsu stopped to give the ground some love while Rogue observed their childish behavior with irritation. They went to Natsu's hotel so he could shower and change before arriving at the club.

Natsu tried to pick an outfit for himself out of the closet but got distracted by Sting's taunts and as they ended up wrestling on the bed Rogue did the honors. He sneakily picked something that he thought would look nice on his friend as he was now determined that Natsu was indeed interested in Gray and wanted to get them together. He just wasn't as obvious about it as Sting.

They made their way to the club when Natsu noticed Juvia crying outside. He immediately went up to her to ask her what was wrong.

"NATSU-SAN, YOU'RE OK!", Juvia screamed happily causing all three dragon slayers to cover their ears in agony.

"Juvia, not so loud!", Natsu complained.

"Oh, sorry! Juvia is so happy, we've all been so worried about you, especially Gray-sama."

"Why were you worried about me? I just left to blow off some steam.", Natsu said in confusion.

Juvia mentally counted down from 10 as she waited for Natsu to realize why everyone might be worried. Just as her internal count reached 0 she saw his expression change to one of understanding.

"Oh no, oh crap. I'm so sorry.", Natsu said feeling horribly guilty about making everyone worry about him while he had been having a great time at Sabertooth.

"Don't tell me, get inside.", Juvia urged.

He stood in front of the guild doors even more nervous than he had been on his way there. Rogue gave him a reassuring nod and they all went inside.

Gray saw Gajeel jump out of his seat and head towards the door and turned to see what had grabbed his attention. He saw Sting and Rogue and didn't think much of it until Rogue went to greet Gajeel and he saw a flash of pink.

He jumped out of his own seat and went to see Natsu, he wasn't sure if he could trust his senses because it wouldn't be the first time he'd thought he'd seen the fire mage walk through those doors that day. Then again, Sting and Rogue had never been part of the illusion. He needed to make sure that Natsu was ok, that the Twin Dragons hadn't somehow saved him from some great peril and were just now returning him to them.

He made his way closer and saw that Natsu was fine. In fact the bastard looked better than fine, had even gone to their room to change. And that is exactly when his rage took over. He assured the deities he'd prayed to the previous night that he would indeed apologize later to Natsu for his actions and offered them his earlier conversation with Juvia as proof of his commitment but for right now Natsu was going to get a piece of his mind.

Natsu saw him coming and gave him a nervous smile as he scratched the back of his head. "Oh, hi Gray."

"Don't you Oh, hi, Gray me, you son of a bitch!", he yelled, " This whole time we thought you were dead you were having a fucking sleepover with Sting and Rogue? "

He shoved Natsu, hard. "Did you even think to let us know you were ok, since you didn't see fit to return to our room last night? Sting is a fucking guild master he could have gotten in touch with Master Bob."

He could hear Sting in the background asking Rogue how come Gray didn't know Natsu was staying with them but he tuned out all extraneous noises after that.

"Damn Salamander, you really pissed him off!", Gajeel said admiringly. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen the ice mage this angry.

Natsu scowled at Gajeel but quickly brought his attention back to the angry ice mage who seemed to be out for blood.

Gray was furious and wanted Natsu to hurt for every time he'd thought the fire mage was dead, for every stupid ass girly feeling he'd experienced making him think he loved this pathetic excuse of a human being. He kept coming at Natsu with his fists while he came at Gray just as hard.

"I'm sorry, ok.", Natsu yelled as he shoved Gray back against a wall, "thanks to you I wasn't exactly thinking straight at the time."

"You broke my jaw!", Gray yelled.

"Well, you deserved it, what you did to me and Juvia was wrong!", Natsu said without regret, although he was a little surprised that he had managed to cause that much damage.

The other three dragon slayers were watching the fight with identical knowing grins on their faces as Gajeel whispered so that only they could hear, "Ah, young love!" All three started to snicker.

"I wasn't really planning on going to Sabertooth I was just so mad and when I heard people chasing after me I thought it was you guys and I didn't want to deal with anyone yet so I blasted off. When I finally stopped I was close to Sabertooth so I decided to go there. I didn't even get to Rogue's house until 2. I honestly didn't think anyone would worry."

"Did you say someone was chasing you?", Gray immediately stopped fighting when he heard those words. His anger died away as he realized the oblivious fool had been in danger after all.

"I guess, I heard someone say 'There he is' and then lots of footsteps headed towards me so I took off."

"We're glad you're safe Natsu but next time please find a way to let us know you're alright", Erza said, "I'll go make sure Master Bob contacts the Master."

Lucy came over to greet him as well but he could tell something was bothering her. She didn't even yell at him, just looked at him sadly. He gave her a questioning look but she shook her head at him letting him know that everything was fine.

"Just kiss and make up already,", Sting grumbled at Natsu and Gray ,"I want to go out to dinner tonight."

Rogue hissed "Idiot" and smacked Sting on the head. Trust his moron to unknowingly yell out the one thing that was an issue between the two mages.

Sting shot Rogue a confused look but remained quiet as Rogue dragged him away from Natsu and Gray and towards the bar. It was still early so there weren't many people in the club. Sting exchanged pleasantries with Master Bob who had already called Makarov to cancel the additional Fairy Tail mages.

Gray grabbed Natsu by the hand and dragged him outside to the bench where he had told him about his parents.

"What are you doing?", Natsu asked crossly.

"Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you like that. I just, I -", Gray stopped in frustration when he couldn't come up with the words to express what he wanted to say.

"It wasn't so much the kiss, it was the kissing me to hurt Juvia that bothered me."

"So….you didn't mind me kissing you?"

"I didn't say that. I just knew it was bound to happen eventually. We had discussed it as part of the job."

"Oh, right.", Gray said, trying not to sound disappointed.

"But you took advantage of that to hurt our nakama, and that's unacceptable. Not to mention, I hate it when you lie."

"I know, I won't be doing it anymore. I made a promise.", Gray said solemnly.

"To whom?", Natsu asked curiously.

"It doesn't matter, all you need to know is I intend to keep it.", Gray replied. No way in hell was he going to tell Natsu about his desperate prayers for help on Natsu's behalf.

"We should get back inside, Andre will be getting here soon.", Natsu said.

Gray knew Natsu was right but there was something he needed to know before they returned to the hustle and bustle of the club.

"Do you forgive me?"

"What?"

Natsu was surprised by the question. Gray had never before cared whether Natsu forgave him for something or not.

"Do you accept my damn apology or not?"

He tried to read the expression on Gray's face but it was too complicated for him to comprehend. He did at least look repentant, so Natsu sighed and said, "Yeah Icicle.I forgive you."

Gray felt some of the weight on his heart lift at Natsu's forgiveness. He had not been looking for this but now that it was in his heart he needed to pursue it or he might never again get another chance to get Natsu's defenses down like this. He just wished he knew how Natsu felt about him. Yesterday for a brief while he'd thought he might have had a chance but now he was not so sure. Whatever he was going to do he better do it soon, before the job came to an end and everything between them went back to normal.

As Natsu walked back inside, ahead of Gray he added, "That was my first kiss you know."

And just like that Gray felt like shit all over again as he followed the object of his affection back inside.

"What's up with Lucy?", Natsu asked as he remembered the odd expression on her face earlier.

"That guy she liked ended up being an undercover Rune Knight who was sent to keep an eye on us and our investigation.", Gray answered, "She took it kind of hard."

Natsu was saddened by the revelation. Lucy really did have bad luck with men.

"Poor Lucy", Natsu said, "I'll see you later, ok? I'm going to go talk to her."

There were a lot more people walking in and the music was starting to play. He stopped for a second as he remembered Sting's request.

"Oh hey. Do you maybe want to go to dinner with Sting and Rogue later?", Natsu grinned, "There's some all you can eat restaurant Sting is determined to take down."

"You mean like on a date?", Gray asked not wanting to get his hopes up.

"I guess, we're supposed to be boyfriends after all.", Natsu shrugged nonchalantly.

"Sure. I'll go see if Andre has already arrived." Gray left quickly not wanting Natsu to see his disappointment. That was the second time Natsu had made a point of saying that this was just a job since he had returned.

Natsu looked around for Lucy as the club got ready for their event, He saw flyers advertising something called a Bubble Night and briefly wondered what that was. He finally found her at the bar nursing a drink and sat down next to her.

"Hey Lucy, I was looking for you.", Natsu said cheerfully.

Lucy just stared at him, her gaze sad.

"You look nice.", Natsu tried to coax her out of her funk. He knew Lucy always spent a long time picking her outfits and enjoyed receiving compliments.

"Thanks.", she mumbled.

"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad."

She just looked at him and said bitterly. "What would you know? You have men and women throwing themselves at you and you don't even notice."

Warning bells went off in Natsu's brain as the conversation took a turn he had decidedly not been expecting or wanted to deal with but he soldiered on, Lucy was one of his best friends and she was hurting.

Natsu shrugged his shoulders at her, "I don't pay attention to that stuff. But even if it were true why does it matter?"

"Because it's not fair! I'm tired of being alone.", Lucy said in frustration, "I want someone who likes me for me not because I can gain them something."

"Well, that guy was a jerk. That has nothing to do with you."

"It's always been that way for me, Natsu. Before I ran away I had lots of guys chasing after me but none of them cared about me. All they cared about was my father's money, or making a good connection. If I hadn't run away all I would have ever been was a negotiation tool for my father, sold to the highest bidder. He said as much the last time I visited. I hated it and I guess I thought that when I was on my own things would be different.", she said bitterly.

"It is different, Lucy. You do have lots of people who like you for who you are. There's me and Gray and Erza, well everyone at the guild really, not to mention your spirits.", Natsu told her trying to cheer her up.

"I know that and I'm grateful, it's more than I ever had before but I want more. I want someone who sees the real me and wants me. I want love."

"And you thought you were going to find that in a bar?", Natsu asked incredulously.

Lucy gave a small laugh, "You're right, I just- I guess I liked him more than I thought."

Natsu ordered himself a drink. "His loss and you know, I'll always be here for you if you want to talk."

Lucy smiled and gave him a hug. It wasn't what she wanted from him but she appreciated it all the same. "Thanks, Natsu."

"Don't waste your time on this one honey, he's a faggot.", Suki's sugary sweet voice was dripping with venom as she interrupted their moment.

Lucy looked up to see the girl from Tuesday glaring at Natsu. She let go of him and began to open her mouth to say something back to the girl when Natsu smiled at her and shook his head. He turned around and tried to defuse the situation.

"Suki, I'm truly sorry for any misunderstanding. I was just being friendly, I didn't mean to make you think that there was anything more.", Natsu said politely, "I hope we can still be friends."

He held out his hand for her to shake. She looked at it with contempt and kept her arms crossed over her chest.

"What makes you think I'd want to touch you in any way.", Suki spat, "You're disgusting."

Natsu looked at her in shock. He had never had anyone respond to him like that before. Even his enemies usually gave him some level of respect.

"What's your problem, Lady?", Lucy seethed at the injustice of the girl's anger. Natsu was a nice person.

"People like him are my problem", Suki replied, "They pretend to be normal and ruin things for the rest of us. His kind are unnatural."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I am normal.", Natsu said as calmly as he could manage, "The only one pretending to be normal around here is you. You show a beautiful face to others while you hide the ugliness of your heart. If all you see when you look at a man is who he chooses to share his bed with then you will never be worthy of his attention. There is more to people than who they love and I feel sorry for you that you can't see that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find my boyfriend."

He grabbed his drink and quickly downed it before he left them there. He was still somewhat shaken by the hate Suki had directed at him. 'Disgusting, unnatural, faggot', those words were floating around in his head along with the feelings she had put behind every one. He was beginning to understand why Sting and Rogue would keep their relationship somewhat hidden if this is what they would have to deal with on a regular basis. Lucy smirked and felt oddly proud of her friend for defending others. She finished her drink and got up to look for the others.

Bubbles began to fall from the club's ceiling and the music got louder as the evening's main event got underway. There was cheering as people began to notice the bubbles. The dance floor began to fill up with gyrating couples making it easier for Natsu to find Gray, who was talking to Sting and Rogue. They had grabbed a table with the rest of the Fairy Tail mages and Eve, who would be handling security for Andre. Gray looked up as Natsu got closer and immediately noticed that something was wrong. Natsu sat down next to the ice mage who looked at him worriedly.

"Hey, are you ok?", Gray asked quietly, not wanting to draw the attention of the other mages if Natsu didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering him.

Natsu nodded but didn't say anything.

"Did everything go ok with Lucy?"

Natsu remained quiet and Gray wondered if Lucy had taken that moment to confess her feelings for the Fire Dragon Slayer. He tensed at the thought but draped his arm around Natsu's shoulders to offer him some comfort.

"Yeah, I just had a little run in I wasn't expecting.", Natsu finally answered, He found he did not mind the feel of Gray's arm so he leaned back just a little.

"Run in, with who?", Gray asked.

Before Natsu could answer Erza stood up and said, "Fernan and his friend are here."

Eve quickly got up and asked them to stay there until he had a chance to introduce himself and explain his presence. Master Bob had chosen Eve because out of all his mages he looked the youngest and he hoped that would make Andre more comfortable. Once Eve felt that his charges were comfortable he led them to the table he had been sitting at.

Fernan and Andre were walking hand in hand and Natsu smiled at the happiness Fernan was radiating. He felt a surge of protectiveness for them after his encounter with Suki. He greeted them warmly and introduced them to the others at the table including Lucy who had just arrived. He almost laughed out loud at the boys reaction once they realized that they were in the presence of not one but four Dragon Slayers along with others that they had only seen in the pages of a magazine.

Gray observed Lucy and noticed that she too looked upset about something. Lucy's eyes immediately searched out Natsu and gave him a reassuring smile causing Gray to become even more curious as to what had happened. He forced his attention back to the boys hoping that they had some new information to give them.

Andre soon informed the other Dragon Slayers that he had seen their fight at the Grand Magic Games and it was the best thing ever. He asked Gajeel what he did after Natsu pushed him into the mine cart causing the Iron Dragon Slayer to glare at Natsu like he had just done it. Rogue quickly steered the subject back to the fight before those two could get started. They were all disappointed when Erza interrupted them once the room they were going to use was cleared by Bob and Hibiki. Ren was observing from the second floor.

It was decided Fernan would stay at the table with Natsu and the other mages since there was no place safer and Andre had made it clear that he did not want Fernan present while he talked. They began a long discussion on guilds and guild life.

Erza walked with Rika discussing with her what she wanted to ask her son while Gray walked behind them with Andre and Even and Lucy brought the rear. As they walked Gray noticed the woman that had been hitting on Natsu looking at him in an almost hostile manner. She seemed to be saying something to him but he couldn't make it out. He was surprised, he had not realized she had been that into Natsu. He didn't notice Andre tense up next to him nor did he notice the satisfied smirk the girl gave at the boy's reaction.

Bob was waiting for them, having chosen a room that had a comfortable sitting area large enough to accommodate all of them. There were already drinks and food placed on a table so that no one would need to leave the room. Once they had all sat down Bob introduced himself.

"My name is Bob, I am the Master of the Blue Pegasus Guild.", he looked at Andre and spoke directly to him, "I want to thank you for coming here and talking to us. I know it must not be easy for you."

Bob switched his gaze to Rika, "I want you to know that I am very sorry that this happened to your son. It's unacceptable to me that these horrid attacks seem to be originating from here, a place that I created to be accepting of everyone. I could no longer sit around and do nothing as the Rune Knights made no progress in their investigation. I've hired Fairy Tail to put a stop to these attacks and they have sent their strongest team. I have complete faith in their abilities. On a more personal note one of my very good friends was also a victim of this senseless hate and I very much feel your pain. I hope that with Andre's help we can stop this madness soon."

"I thought they told me they had not been able to talk to any other victims.", Rika said a little peeved that she had been lied to.

"That's right madam, they haven't.", Bob said sadly.

Rika paled at the implication of his words and quickly grabbed her son's hand in hers.

"Erza, you may begin."

ooooo

A/N For those of you unhappy with Juvia's somewhat not appearance on Thursday night Juvia finally had her moment with Gray, I tried to do her justice I hope I didn't do too badly. Lucy got a nice moment with Natsu as well. Natsu is being a bit of an enigma at the moment and Rogue has jumped on the Gratsu train (heh!) along with the other Dragon Slayers, maybe not a train since that would make them horribly motion sick. I felt really bad even writing those nasty words that came out of Suki's mouth. Not the way I personally feel at all if I have not made that obvious enough yet. Anyways hope you liked it. Lots of things coming up next chapter now that all the major players are all in one place. Let me know what you think , even if it's something you think I could have done better.


	11. Second First Kiss

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima, all others belong to me.

Chapter 11: Second First Kiss

As they listened to the end of Andre's narrative of his attack, Erza, Lucy and Gray had a hard time hiding their frustration. They had hoped to learn something new, something that had not already been included in the file they had received from Jason days earlier. Hearing it directly from Andre certainly made it more real. Their hearts were all somewhat broken from hearing the barely contained tears in his voice as he recounted the horrible things that were screamed at him while he was viciously beaten. Their resolve to bring these people to justice was further strengthened but they still had no clear direction to follow.

If Natsu was correct about being chased as he left the club then they were getting ready to strike again, might even have already decided on Natsu as their target. Gray could only imagine that Erza was already planning on using the Flame Brain as bait to lure out the attackers. He knew it was the logical thing to do as well and on any other job he wouldn't have even blinked about using Natsu as bait. Right now though he could feel a clear sense of foreboding, a sense that things would not go as they planned and Natsu would be hurt and that made Gray uneasy. He needed to get out of this room. He thanked Andre and left the room reminding Erza that he and Natsu had plans with the Twin Dragons.

Erza continued asking questions, determined to find some piece of information that would help them.

"Alright, why don't we talk about what happened inside the club that night?", Erza asked Andre.

ooooo

Sting and Gajeel had grown bored with the conversation and had moved on to arm wrestling each other.

"So, you and Andre?", Natsu grinned at Fernan.

"Yeah", Fernan blushed even as he smiled, "We had a long talk after you guys left."

"I'm glad things worked out the way you wanted.", Natsu said, happy that at least something good would come out of this disaster of a situation.

"Well, we're going to give it a try at least.", replied Fernan.

"Will you look at that, the squirt is less of a chicken than the Salamander.", Gajeel taunted from the other side of the table.

"What is that supposed to mean?", Natsu immediately bristled up at the words.

"Nothing much, I just thought that you would have grown a pair by now.", Gajeel said amiably.

Natsu glared at Gajeel, "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"It should, you're screwing things up with the Ice Block, and you're going to end up regretting it.", Gajeel replied, "I don't understand why you're fighting this so much, you usually have no problem going after what you want."

Rogue had remained quiet during the exchange but he silently agreed with Gajeel.

"I have my reasons and they're none of your damn business, now leave it the hell alone."

"Natsu-san, Gray-sama is --", Juvia began but was immediately cut off by Natsu.

"Not you too, Juvia.", Natsu said, clearly exasperated, "You are the last person I would expect to get involved in this."

"Gray-sama made his feelings for Juvia clear today, he can never love Juvia as more than a friend.", Juvia said firmly but with sadness.

Natsu looked at her in surprise. Gray had finally talked to Juvia? That was….unexpected and it gave him pause. Perhaps the Icicle was more serious about this than he had thought. He stopped that thought before it could get any further.

"I don't want to hear any of this.", Natsu said with irritation.

"I think you should hear it.", Sting looked at him with determination, "What are you so afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything, I just don't want to talk about it." he said as he took a swallow of his drink and proceeded to ignore his friends even though he could feel their eyes on him.

Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He had already admitted to himself that he had feelings for the ice mage but that's all they could ever be. Gray was too important to him to risk losing him on a whim. They'd get over these feelings after they went back to Fairy Tail and things could go back to normal. He'd take a few solo missions and he'd forget he'd ever felt any different. He'd go back to being the oblivious idiot everyone expected him to be.

Conversations continued around him as he remained lost in his thoughts. He never even noticed Gray returning to the table until he felt icy arms wrap themselves around his waist.

"Come on love, let's go dance.", Sting held his hand out for Rogue to take and led him to the dance floor. Their fingers were intertwined and they whispered to each other as they got closer to the swaying bodies.

"When did that happen?", Gajeel asked Natsu, pointing to the Twin Dragons.

"A few months ago.", Natsu answered.

"Are they mated?"

"Yes."

Gajeel took in that information and smiled. Rogue was something of a younger brother to him and it made him glad to hear that he was happy. Sting might be a pain but if he was good for Rogue then Gajeel guessed he couldn't be that bad. He looked at Natsu and resisted the urge to hit him on the head for his stupidity.

"You mentioned that before", Gray said to Natsu, "What does that mean exactly, is that a dragon slayer thing?"

"Being mated?", Natsu asked and continued when Gray nodded, "It's sort of like being married but there is no concept of divorce in dragon law. Dragons can have as many partners as they want but once they have picked who they wish to be with for the rest of their lives there will never be anyone else. A dragon will do anything to protect their mate and ensure their happiness."

"Can dragon slayers only mate with other dragon slayers?", Gray asked curious if this was one of the problems he could come to expect.

Natsu looked at him oddly, "No, of course not. A dragon slayer can be mated to whoever they want, human, demon or another dragon slayer. It's just a little more difficult for humans to understand the urges that come with being part Dragon. I know Levy had a hard time adjusting."

Gajeel snorted at the understatement. Shrimp had had a hell of a time getting used to his possessiveness and over protectiveness.

"Why don't you guys go dance?", Gajeel urged them knowing Gray loved to dance, "Juvia and I will watch the kid."

Gray wasted no time, he got up and grabbed Natsu by the hand and practically dragged him to the dance floor. The song that was playing was a fast song, it's beat aggressive and soon both mages were getting into it. Their bodies began to glisten with sweat from their movements and the heat that was radiating off of everyone on the dance floor. Gray was watching Natsu move in front of him, his hips ground in perfect time to the beat. It was almost as if Natsu was channeling all of the anger of the song into his movements.and every once in a while he would turn around and Gray could see his perfect ass. Gray could not take his eyes off of him. Natsu was the sexiest thing he had ever seen, his body was beginning to react to the sight but Gray did not care. It was too dark for anyone to notice. He wanted to touch him desperately, to claim the fire mage as his and he was so frustrated because he was pretty sure it was not meant to be. He could not remember feeling this strongly for anyone before, male of female. He wanted and it hurt but he would not give up. He was going to try his damnedest to make Natsu at least consider it before this job ended.

Natsu watched Gray ogle him as he danced and he was surprised by the depth of the hunger he saw in the ice mage's eyes. He allowed himself to run his eyes over Gray's body. He was able to get a good glimpse of Gray's chest and abs as he had apparently already lost his shirt. Gray was a very good dancer, his body managed to look graceful as he moved to the music which was amazing considering the type of song they were dancing to. Natsu felt his body responding to the sight and he had to resist the urge to touch the body across from him. He'd never felt like this before, he guessed this must be what lust felt like, although he wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to do with it. Gramps drunken sex talk had only covered the opposite sex and he'd never been curious enough to ask Rogue once he'd found out about him and Sting. He never thought it would have anything to do with him.

He felt something cold distract him from his thoughts and soothe his sweaty body. He tried to figure out where it came from as Gray was still dancing across from him. He saw Gray using his magic on the bubbles that were falling around the two of them. The affected bubbles looked more solid and when they popped they let out a cold mist as they sparkled. Gray extended his magic to affect Sting and Rogue, who had appeared next to them and were eyeing him gratefully. All four of them began to dance together, being silly and bumping into each other playfully easing the tension that had existed between Natsu and Gray as they danced.

The song finally ended and a slow song was played to help cool off the dancers after the frantic tempo of the previous song. Natsu made to walk off the dance floor but Gray grabbed him and put his arms around Natsu's waist, he had noticed Natsu's reaction to his dancing and he had every intention of taking advantage of it. Natsu placed his arm around Gray's shoulders and allowed him to lead him around. Sting and Rogue were dancing next to them already kissing as they swayed. Natsu tried not to look at them.

"Isn't this better than when we were learning to dance for that Velveno job?", Gray grinned.

Natsu groaned, "Don't remind me. I thought Erza was going to kill me with those spins, they made me so sick."

"You mean like this?", Gray spun him around a few times a teasing smile on his face.

"Don't be an asshole.", Natsu complained his stomach beginning to heave in protest.

"Wouldn't dream of it.", Gray smirked as he held Natsu closer while they danced.

"I've never danced with a guy before, it feels kind of weird."

"It's not so bad.", Gray hummed contentedly, "Natsu, I--"

He leaned in closer to Natsu who was staring at him with an unreadable expression, although his cheeks were reddening deliciously.

"Can I get a do over?", Gray asked, his voice husky as he let his feelings for the fire mage overwhelm him. Natsu felt himself getting lost in its sultriness. He would do anything that voice asked of him.

"What?", Natsu heard himself respond but his voice sounded so far away, almost like it was coming from someone else but at least he had managed an actual word.

"Can I kiss you again?", Gray asked using the same voice as he leaned ever closer to Natsu's lips, "You deserve a better first kiss than the one I gave you before."

Natsu found himself biting his bottom lip as he thought about the question. It was difficult to focus, Gray's closeness was maddening, Natsu saw Gray's face redden as he looked at Natsu's lips. It gave him a sense of power to be able to fluster the ice mage from such a simple action. Maybe just this once it would be ok, for the job of course.

'Please', he laughed at himself. 'Who are you trying to kid?' He wanted this just as much as Gray did.

"Well you certainly can't do much worse.", Natsu replied, Gray's beautiful blush making him feel bold.

Gray didn't even comment at the obvious taunt, too focused on giving Natsu the best kiss he was capable of. He moved one of his hands from Natsu's waist to the back of his head as he pressed his lips to Natsu's. and when he felt Natsu's lips press back he began to nibble on them softly to show him his affection, first the top and then the bottom. They were both making little noises not quite moans but close. Gray felt braver and he gently licked Natsu's bottom lip hoping he would get the message so that he could show him his desire. Natsu parted his lips and he immediately felt Gray's tongue enter his mouth. The coldness of it made his whole mouth tingle like he had just eaten a stick of peppermint and his tongue rushed to meet it giving it little inexperienced licks which Gray did not seem to mind. Gray reveled in the new taste, It was delicious, Natsu tasted sweet but with a bit of a kick, probably from all the spicy food that he ate. They were so involved in what they were doing that they were oblivious to the fact that the song had ended. Several pairs of eyes openly stared at them while the rest of the dancers gyrated to the next song giving them room to continue.

Sting and Rogue grinned at each other and looked hopeful. Suki glared at the four of them, disgusted by their blatant displays of affection. Another man, looked at Gray thoughtfully as he made a decision that would end up having some impact on the rest of their evening.

Sting tapped Natsu's shoulder as he cleared his throat.

"Sorry to interrupt but the song's over and I'm starving.", Sting said matter-of-factly, "How about we get going?"

Natsu and Gray separated slowly with Gray giving Natsu one last nibble before removing his arms from the fire mage's body. They looked at each other in shock, each one registering the feelings that were coursing all over their bodies from their kiss.

"Was it better that time?", Gray asked Natsu nervously as the fire mage stared at him without uttering a word. Natsu turned around and left the dance floor, not even sure where he was going he just knew he had to get away so he could think and he clearly could not do that around Gray.

"Natsu, wait!", Gray said as he immediately went after him. He couldn't believe this was happening again. At least his jaw was still in one piece.

Sting grabbed Gray by the arm, "Hang on a minute lover boy. You don't want to go after him right now."

"I'll go. Why don't you guys go ahead to get a table?", Rogue said, "Natsu and I will meet you there. Oh and Gray? You might want to find your shirt."

"Damn it!", Gray said as he hunted for his shirt. He found it and put it on quickly.

"Are you sure he's going to come?", Gray asked dubiously. What had he done wrong? He even asked this time and he was sure Natsu had enjoyed it.

"He'll come.", Rogue assured him, "he promised Sting he would." He left to find Natsu.

ooooo

"I don't know, I was just listening to the band.", Andre continued.

"Did anyone talk to you?", Erza asked

"There were a bunch of us sitting together at a table. I had met most of them before."

"Do you remember what you were talking about?"

"Just regular stuff. Magic, boys, girls, music stuff like that."

"Were they all male?", Erza asked. She knew there was an answer here somewhere she just had to ask the right question.

"No, there were some girls too. Fernan knows some of them, we've come together a couple of times. They were all older than me though."

"Had you been intimate with any of them?", Erza asked

"Uhm no, I haven't done that yet.", Andre replied embarrassed at the question, "I'd kissed a few of them. Girls and boys back when I was trying to figure myself out. We all got along fine."

Andre's mother looked relieved at his answer, she had been blindsided by how often her son snuck out without her knowledge and she had been worried as to what kind of things he had been getting himself into.

"You said you knew some of them, what about the ones you didn't know.", Erza prodded, "Did any of them give you any special attention?"

Andre thought about his response before answering , "There were two people I hadn't met before. One was a guy named Koen, and the other was a girl named Suki."

"Wait, Suki?", Lucy jumped in to the conversation, "What does she look like?"

"She's pretty, she's tallish with long white hair and blue eyes, nice figure."

Erza looked at Lucy with confusion. Why was she getting so worked about some girl they had never heard about before?

"Did something happen with her?", Erza asked. At this point she was willing to follow up on anything.

Andre immediately looked uncomfortable.

ooooo

"I don't get it, did I do something wrong?", Gray asked Sting, "I even asked him if it was okay."

Gray was frustrated and confused. How could he have screwed up again when he tried so hard to do everything right?

"It's not you, man.", Sting said, "I'm pretty sure it's him. I gotta tell you, if he's anything like Rogue you are in for a long fight so you might as well pace yourself."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, I think those two are going to be awhile. We have time for one drink."

Sting grabbed Gray's arm and led him towards the bar. He bought them each a drink and began to tell him his story.

"Look, ever since we were little Rogue and I only ever had each other.", Sting told him, "You guys were lucky you got into a guild young and they took care of you. You had some sort of family, we had no one. We survived as best as we could until we eventually joined Sabertooth and as you might have heard that was not exactly what you'd call a loving environment."

"When we hit puberty I dated all kind of girls and Rogue kind of kept to himself.", Sting continued, "But no matter how many girls I dated or how pretty they were all I could think about was Rogue, doing those things with him. I was in love with him. The bond we shared was too strong, there was just no room for anyone else."

"Master Jiemma was an asshole and quite possibly the biggest homophobe in Fiore.", Sting's hatred for the man could be heard in every word, "All he cared about was strength, if he had even thought I had those kinds of feelings towards Rogue he would have punished both of us for making his precious guild look weak. So I kept up the façade and never told Rogue how I felt, kept dating girls for the sake of appearances."

"When Natsu showed up at our hotel during the Grand Magic Games to defend Yukino and lecture us on what a guild should be, he also beat the crap out of Jiemma and showed us all that even though he was strong, he was all too human and I began to realize that I should not be letting him dictate my life for me. When he tried to kill Lector I defeated him and kicked him out of the guild by throwing his own rules back at him. I became Master and as I changed the guild I also began pursuing Rogue."

"You'd think after everything we'd been through together he wouldn't have doubted my feelings for him", Sting snorted, "He fought me tooth and nail. Came up with every logical bullshit excuse he could think of as to why it should not happen. It all boiled down to fear, well that and stubbornness. He was terrified that if it ended up not working out I would leave."

Sting scoffed, "As if I would ever do that. There is no Sting without Rogue, that is just a fact of my life. If we had not worked out I wouldn't have gone anywhere. Anyway, long story short it took me months, my friend, to break through to that stubborn bastard. You and Natsu have barely been together a week."

"People like to point out how similar Natsu and I are and in all the more showy ways it's true. But on the inside, Natsu is a lot more like Rogue than me and that is why they get along so well. So prepare yourself accordingly because trust me when I tell you, it's going to be a long ride."

Sting patted Gray on the back sympathetically. "If it helps any you have all the Dragon Slayers' approval, well the ones that are here anyway. I don't see Laxus giving a shit either way and Wendy adores both of you so I'm pretty sure she'd be fine with it."

Gray nodded still absorbing Sting's story and the fact that the dragon slayer had remained serious long enough to tell it.

"You're not going to give up, are you?", Sting asked urgently.

"No, I won't give up at least until this job is over.", Gray replied with determination, "Why do you care so much, anyway?"

"Are you kidding me? Who else are we going to double with?", Sting grinned with excitement, "I've got all sorts of plans!"

Gray had to laugh at that.

"Now, let's go to that restaurant and get a table, they'll catch up with us soon enough. After all that talking I'm even hungrier than I was before."

They left the bar area and began to make their way toward the club's doors. Gray felt his arm be grabbed as someone tried to catch his attention. He looked at the owner of the arm and immediately tensed up. Sting looked at Gray, his eyebrows raised. The man quickly let go of Gray and put his arms up in a placating gesture.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to get your attention.", the man said, "I've been waiting for a chance to talk to you without your boyfriend around."

Gray just stared at him coldly, waiting for him to get to his point while he debated whether to beat him up or not.

"I just wanted to apologize for last Saturday--"

"Everything ok here man?", Sting interrupted the man to ask Gray.

"Yeah, everything's fine,", Gray said, "You go on ahead, I'll catch up with you once I'm done here."

Sting looked at him to make sure and then gave him a backwards wave as he left the club by himself to get them a table at the restaurant he'd been waiting all this time to try. He whistled to himself as he walked.

"Let me start again,", the man said, "Hi, my name is Koen and I'm sorry I was an asshole to you on Saturday."

"I've been waiting to apologize but whenever I saw you, you were with your boyfriend and I didn't want him to beat me up or burn me so when I saw you leave the dance floor without him I knew it was now or never."

"It's fine,I'd forgotten all about it.", Gray said, "I have to go,"

"Oh please, let me buy you a drink to make up for all the unpleasantness.", Koen said, "It won't take long and it will make me feel better."

"I appreciate the offer, Koen, but a drink is how this all started.", Gray reminded him.

"I know, I just want to show you that I'm not a bad guy.", Koen pleaded, "I don't even know what got into me."

"One drink, and then you leave me alone?", Gray asked.

"I promise."

"Fine, let's go.", Gray said as he led the way back to the bar Koen following closely behind with a big smile on his face.

ooooo

"Everyone went out the back exit to smoke a cigarette in the backyard where the benches are but I don't smoke so I stayed at the table with Suki.", Andre recounted.

"At first, everything was fine and we just listened to the band and kept talking about stuff. I don't remember what exactly but then she got all sad and said that no one had liked her that day or something like that. So I tried to be nice and told her that she was really pretty and nice and I was sure she would find someone soon."

"I don't know that she heard anything I said past the pretty and nice part because all of a sudden she was sitting very close to me and touching my arm. I was kind of surprised to be honest because Koen and I had been flirting back and forth most of the night and I think at one point he had even been holding my hand so I thought my preferences were kind of in the open."

"What did you do then?", Erza asked intrigued by this girl.

"I'm fourteen, I didn't really know what to do. I didn't want to make her feel worse by flat out rejecting her so I just didn't do anything. I started babbling about something or other. When everyone else finally came back Koen glared at her and made a point of removing her arm and kissing me in front of her. I think they might have met before but I'm not sure.That was just a feeling I got. Anyway she just started yelling at the two of us about how we were trying to make a fool out of her and she called us a bunch of names. She threw Koen's drink at him and left.

"That sounds like the girl that was with Natsu on Tuesday.", Erza said finally remembering the girl.

Suddenly Lucy started to laugh. Erza looked at her with disapproval, there was nothing funny about the situation.

"I'm sorry, Erza.", Lucy said in between fits of laughter, "It's just that I thought I had bad luck with men. This girl seems to keep hitting on guys that end up being gay."

Erza shrugged. she didn't think it was that funny.

"Did she threaten you in any way, Andre?", Erza asked.

"Not directly just the usual I'm going to go to hell, I'm disgusting and unnatural, etc… I've heard it all before. I tried not to let it bother me but the evening was kind of ruined after that so I decided to leave earlier than usual and then I was attacked and of course the stuff they said was much worse."

"That's exactly the type of stuff she said to Natsu earlier when he tried to apologize for Tuesday.", Lucy told Erza.

"She glared at Gray too when we were making our way here.", Andre added.

"Why didn't you say anything before?", Erza asked.

"I don't know, I hadn't thought about her since the day it happened, I didn't realize she might be important."

"Alright, let's find this Suki.", Erza said with a smile, "I have some questions for her."

Erza, Lucy and Bob left the room in search of the girl while Hibiki and Eve stayed behind with Andre and Rika.

ooooo

"You know, it's not very smart of you to go off on your own. Someone tried to attack you yesterday.", Rogue said from behind him.

"What are you doing here? I said I don't want to talk about it."

"You did say that." Rogue agreed as he sat next to his friend, "But you also showed up at my doorstep rather early this morning specifically to talk about it so I'm going to go with the you that actually wanted my help."

"Why don't you tell me what's actually bothering you about being with Gray?", Rogue asked gently, "I saw that kiss, you can't tell me you're not attracted to him."

"What's going to happen when he realizes this is just a phase and he doesn't want me anymore? When he realizes that I'm not enough."

Rogue pinched his nose in frustration, "Not this again."

Natsu could only look at him in confusion not knowing what Rogue was referring to.

"You know I never thought I'd say this but I am somewhat happy that I killed my dragon.", Rogue said thoughtfully, "When I look at you, Gajeel and Wendy and how you are still holding on to your dragons I can only be glad that Sting and I got closure."

"Wendy and Gajeel have managed to move forward, but not you. You are forever stuck as the little boy who was abandoned by his father."

"That's not true!", Natsu said angrily.

"Isn't it? You still go off to find him every chance you get, even though it's been all these years. You may never learn why he left Natsu, but that shouldn't stop you from living your life. I know the pain doesn't go away but it's a really stupid reason to keep people from getting close to you. Admit it, you're terrified."

"I'm not.", Natsu denied, "And for your information I haven't gone off to search for Igneel since we returned from Tenrou."

"You are.", Rogue said looking at his friend sadly, "Gray is not Igneel and it's not fair to assume he'll abandon you just because Igneel did."

"You need to realize that things are not going to go back to normal after this job. You are in for a lot of heartache if you keep thinking that, especially after what just happened. Gray has feelings for you and they're not going to disappear just because you think you want them to. You're going to have to acknowledge them one way or another. And if you handle it poorly, you might lose him anyway."

"What am I supposed to do?", Natsu asked miserably, "I don't know what I want."

"I don't know, off the top of my head you could try to talk to him and let him know how you feel.", Rogue said dryly, "Hell, let him know you're scared, don't you think he might feel the same way? You can both decide what you want from there. But Gajeel is right, if you don't own up to your feelings, you're going to regret it. Especially if Gray ever moves on."

"We don't really do feelings", Natsu said, "As you saw we tend to speak in punches."

"Well then punch softly, maybe he'll get the message.", Rogue said as he winked at him, "Let's go meet up with them. We have a restaurant that needs to learn what all you can eat truly means."

Natsu followed Rogue back into the club so that they could leave to meet the others.

ooooo

Sting walked out of the club whistling a tune of his own creation. His mind was full of Rogue, Natsu and Gray, food and any other number of things. He didn't hear the steps that got ever closer. He heard a small bang behind him and then felt a sharp prick in his back, his body became rigid as jolts of electricity began to flow through him and all he could think off was what he could have possibly done to Laxus to piss him off. As his muscles locked up he fell forward and quickly realized that this couldn't be Laxus as he also started to feel the excruciating pain of his magic being drained from him. He tried to scream but his jaw was locked up and he realized that interiorizing his screams might be the most painful thing of all. He wondered what the hell was happening to him as he saw several masked men approaching with various weapons in their hands.

ooooo

A/N I have no idea why but I had entirely too much fun writing the dancing scenes in this. Writing the kiss was weird but I hope I did alright. *grin* My beloved tablet is slowly dying, I ordered a battery from ebay in the hopes that it will fix my problems. I really don't enjoy writing on my laptop as the humongous touchpad is constantly getting in my way. I liked Sting talking to Gray about him and Rogue as I had only really shown Rogue and Natsu interacting before. Once again this chapter went longer than I expected so I think I might have to add another chapter (now up to 13) to the count. The dragon slayers ganging up on Natsu also made me happy. Anyway I hope you liked this chapter.


	12. Love Is Like A Shadow

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima, all other characters belong to me.

Chapter 12: Love Is Like A Shadow

Koen watched Gray as he tried to consume the drink that Koen had bought him as quickly as possible. Gray was polite but aloof and he made no attempt at small talk or even tried to hide that he wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. Koen could not blame him, he had acted like an asshole to the man. He wasn't even sure why. Sure, the man was gorgeous and so was his boyfriend for that matter, but it's not like he'd never been rejected before. Koen mentally shrugged, it wasn't important. What was important was to keep him safe from her.

It had taken quite a while for him to make the connection but that girl was bad news. When that kid Andre just stopped coming to the club after normally coming several times a week the last puzzle piece had clicked into place in his mind. That's when he knew she was somehow responsible for the attacks that seemed to be happening to some of his friends. Bad things happened to those who caught Suki's attention. Blue Pegasus was a popular club and lots of people came here straight or otherwise. She seemed to be here all the time. Koen usually only came when he felt like it and no matter what day of the week it was he had yet to not see her there.

The night his friend, Jenner, had gotten hurt Koen had remembered that she had come on to him and then caused a scene when she had found out Jenner was not interested in girls. That in itself was not suspicious, it was embarrassing but it happened from time to time. They all knew the drill by now. He had not thought much about it in the beginning but the more he saw her the more he felt there was just something off about her. He had started watching her on days when there was no one around that caught his eye. He'd noticed something very interesting about the girl. She only ever hit on a guy after she already knew he was interested in other men. She seemed to enjoy the drama, or perhaps she was looking for an acceptable way to yell all those things at them. Koen didn't know what her deal was but it was certainly strange. He had tried to go to the Rune Knights with his suspicions but it seemed that Suki McNeely was quite wealthy and the Knights were loathe to start an investigation on someone of her stature without any hard evidence. They buried the report and recommended that he stay away from her, which he had done. He never gave her an opening against him. Pretty much got up and left whenever she was around. Except for that one night, the night he and Andre were hitting it off.

He should never have gone to smoke with the others, not knowing what he thought he knew about her but he could tell Andre was younger than he claimed and that had made him a little bit unsure. He had gone outside to think about whether he should pursue him or not.

When he returned to the table she already had her arm around Andre and Koen could tell that the boy was anxious. He took her arm off of him and kissed him trying to claim him in front of her in the hopes that she would leave the boy alone or at the very least focus her craziness at him. She did but apparently she still chose to go after Andre.

He was startled out of his thoughts when Gray got up from his stool. Koen looked at him and saw that he looked tired, as if he hadn't slept for days and he was even more determined to keep him out of harm's way somehow. He had seen how Suki had stared at him and his boyfriend while they kissed on the dance floor. Koen shuddered, the look she had given Gray and his boyfriend was more venomous than any he had seen her sport before. It truly scared him. It's what had made him decide to intervene.

"Thanks for the drink.", Gray said politely and then added more forcefully , "No offense but I do expect you to leave me alone now."

That's right, he had agreed to that in his bid to keep the mage from leaving the club. What should he do?

"Sure.", Koen agreed easily as he wracked his brain for a way to protect him. He would follow him at a distance and make sure he got to his destination ok.

Gray began to make his way back to the front doors of the club, hurrying as he tried to catch up to Sting. There were a couple of things he wanted to ask him before Natsu joined them. Assuming he joined them. Gods he was tired, all of the activities of the last two days were conspiring against him. He needed sleep, his mind and movements all felt more sluggish than usual. He probably shouldn't have had those last two drinks, they had only made him sleepier. He shook his head trying to clear it. He got far enough away from the club that he could no longer hear the loud music when all of a sudden he cursed in frustration as he realized that he had no idea where the damn restaurant was. He was about to make his way back to the club to wait for Natsu and Rogue when he heard a noise.

Gray wasn't sure exactly where it was coming from but it sounded as though someone was in trouble. There was a weird scream followed by a laugh but the noises that concerned him the most were the muted thuds of an object hitting flesh. He followed the laughs and stopped in his tracks when he saw Sting Eucliffe on the ground his body bleeding but his spirit clearly not broken.

"Is that all you got?", Sting yelled defiantly even as he laughed, "You fuckers better hope you're done before I can get up because even without magic I'm going to kick all your asses and trust me when I tell you I will not be as kind as you're being. You've gone and pissed me off."

Gray ran to help the man he now considered a friend. He quickly called upon his magic and aimed it at the man who was hitting Sting with what looked like a lead pipe.

"Ice Make: Lance"

The man backed off as he tried to evade the shards of ice from Gray's spell.

"Sting are you ok?", Gray yelled from his position at the mouth of the alley.

"Oh yeah, I'm just fucking peachy.", Sting replied sarcastically, "I just discovered what it feels like to be masered and I gotta say, not fun. Oh, and guess what? I've just been informed that being gay is bad. Who the fuck knew?"

Gray snorted at that. He could only imagine these guys were not used to dealing with someone like Sting Eucliffe.

"GRAY, WATCH OUT, MASER AT 3 O'CLOCK!", Sting screamed as he saw another man aim a maser at Gray .

"Ice Make: Shield"

Gray turned to his right and saw the man aiming at him and made a thick shield for himself . He felt bad for Sting but he had no desire to experience that ever again. He felt the probes get stuck in the ice and relaxed.

"GRAY, BEHIND YOU!", a vaguely familiar voice yelled out.

Gray turned around but he was too slow to block the pipe that hit him across the face. He began to bleed profusely.

"Shit!", Gray yelled. He kicked at the man who had attacked him keeping him back but now Sting was defenseless again and he could see more men in the alley all holding some sort of weapon. He looked for the owner of the voice and saw Koen grappling with one of the masked men. He seemed to be trying to keep the man from attacking Gray. He did not seem to be very good at fighting.

"What are you doing?", Gray asked him.

"I'm trying to help!", Koen answered even as another man joined his fight.

Gray screamed "Ice Make: Hammer" and a large hammer appeared above the larger man attacking Koen stunning him for the moment.

"Run to the club and get help! I don't know how long I can hold them off", Gray told him urgently, "Hurry!"

Gray began to feel faint and he cursed, He couldn't afford to pass out. He had to protect Sting.

"Damnit, Sting. This restaurant better be fucking worth it!", Gray said in an attempt to lighten the mood as things started to look bleak He tried to ice his wound but there was so much blood he couldn't quite pinpoint where it was coming from.

Sting laughed shallowly. "Rogue and Natsu will be here soon to save our sorry asses, just hold on!"

ooooo

Flashback

 _A little girl, aged 7, walked hand in hand with her father. She had shoulder length white hair and cornflower blue eyes. They were headed to the neighborhood park. The little girl was excited as it was rare for her father to take her to the park, she was usually taken by her nanny who was not as fun. She also knew that she could expect to get ice cream on the way home. It was just something that they always did when he did take her._

 _It was a beautiful sunny day in the spring, the sky so blue it seemed to have scared the clouds away. There were flowers blooming everywhere in every color in the rainbow and her father had let her pick some wildflowers from a small field on the way to the park. Suki remembered those flowers well, their bright colors made her cheerful and she promptly turned them into a bouquet and presented them to her father who accepted them with a sad smile. That gave her a little bit of a pause but she quickly forgot about it as she raced to the park her father chasing behind her._

 _Suki loved her father. He was handsome, funny and kind and unlike her mother he always made time for her. Suki knew that she was very lucky, her parents were well off and she wanted for nothing. There was not much for her to hope for except maybe that her mother was nicer to her._

 _She had noticed over the past few months that her parents did not act as happy as they used to and Suki had tried to be on her best behavior, snippets of an overheard conversation had made her believe that the change might be somehow caused by her. She thought she had seen tears in her father's eyes a few days ago and it had shocked her. Her mother had always told her that men were strong and they did not cry, no matter what. Come to think of it her mother had been making a lot of remarks about real men to her friends, whatever that meant. Suki thought there was no realer man to her than her father._

 _They spent a lovely afternoon at the park. Her father took her on everything she wanted. He pushed her on the swings, went down the long slide with her and made the merry-go-round spin so hard that even as she laughed Suki thought she might fly off. She started to notice little things as the afternoon wore on. Her father seemed distracted and whenever he thought she wasn't looking his smile disappeared and was replaced by an expression she had never seen before, one that she instinctively did not like. At one point she thought she saw his eyes turn shiny as he looked at her although he quickly turned away. Suki began to get a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was a smart girl, this was not how their visits to the park usually went and a sense of dread began to overtake her as she saw the day begin to darken. She knew, she just knew that they had to stay in the park, maybe forever. If they didn't her world might just blow apart and she wasn't ready for that. She had several friends whose parents had fallen to the dreaded D word but she had never thought that her parents would be next. She also knew that the father was always the one to leave and that would leave her with only her nanny and her mother. Her mother, who was cold and never had any time for her._

 _"Are you ready for ice cream, monkey?", her father asked,_

 _"No, there's still daylight!", she said as cheerfully as she could manage, not wanting to let on that she knew something was wrong, "Come push me, Daddy! I want to fly like a bird."_

 _Suki tried to get her father to push her on the swings again, anything to keep them there. She went from ride to ride trying desperately to keep herself calm against the futility of her efforts. No matter how hard she tried, she could not make time stay still. All she could do was hold on to this one perfect memory in the making for as long as she could._

 _End of Flashback_

Suki watched Natsu enter the club from the back with his black haired friend and she felt hatred consume her. He was a liar. He was handsome and charming and kind but he only pretended to like her, played with her emotions and then acted like he didn't know what he was doing all along. Just like her bastard of a father, he had abandoned her for another man.

She had foolishly let her defenses down that day, fascinated by his pink hair, his warmth and his beautiful smile, a smile that seemed to intimate that everything would somehow be ok again. But it wasn't, his actions just brought all her pain back. The smug look on his boyfriend's face as he flaunted at her that Natsu was his to possess reminded her of that other man, the one who had selfishly taken her father away from her. Moved him to another country that her mother would not let her visit. Her father had promised to write and to visit but she had never heard from him again. She was left alone in a big house with only her mother's resentment and scathing attacks for company.

Koen ran faster than he ever had before, he spotted the club in front of him and pulled the door open. He ran inside trying to find the Master of the guild or anyone he could recognize that could come help. Just his luck the first person he recognized was Gray's boyfriend and his friend.

"You have to come quick!", Koen pleaded, "Your friends are in trouble."

"Hey, aren't you the guy who hit on Gray?", Natsu said slowly.

"Yes, never mind that now. I'm telling you Gray is in trouble.", Koen said agitated. "He's losing a lot of blood."

Natsu found himself covered in fire without consciously remembering calling on his magic. Rogue looked at him somewhat amused. Natsu put his fire out looking at Rogue sheepishly.

"Take me to Gray.", Natsu ordered, "Rogue go find Erza and the others. Hurry."

"No. Wasn't Gray with Sting?", Rogue asked.

"Sting! Yes that's the other guy's name.", Koen said excitedly, "He's down."

Rogue's eyes began to glow dangerously as he calmly said to the man who had come searching for them. "Let's go."

All three men ran out of the club.

Suki watched them leave. She would make Natsu pay for making a fool out of her. He would come to regret his lying ways right before his end. He would pay for her father and his lies. Tonight, she smiled eagerly as she grabbed an object from her purse, she herself would participate in the beatings for the first time and it seemed the festivities had already started. She slipped out of the club quietly.

ooooo

It had been about 30 minutes since they had gone out in search of this Suki and they had not been able to find hide nor hair of her anywhere in the club. They returned to the room dejected but needing to come up with a plan of action. They heard a knock on the door and Eve opened it to find Gajeel, Juvia and Fernan on the other side.

"Salamander and Rogue are on the move.", Gajeel said urgently as they entered.

"What are you talking about? He and Gray were going out with the Twin Dragons", Erza asked.

"I don't have time to catch you up on gossip right now, Red", Gajeel said, "Some guy just ran in to say Sting and Gray were in trouble and the two of them ran out with him. We gotta move while I can still track them."

"Agreed.", Erza said, "Let's move."

Erza, Lucy and Juvia let Gajeel take the lead and followed him out of the room leaving the Blue Pegasus mages with their guests. Fernan sat next to Andre and looked at him nervously.

"Are you ok?", Fernan asked carefully.

"I'm fine, I'm more worried about them.", Andre replied.

Master Bob looked at the two nervous boys and said, "Don't worry, this is what they do. I need to get in touch with their Guild Master. I'll be right back, Eve and Hibiki are right here if you need anything."

They settled in to wait.

ooooo

Natsu was trying very hard not to panic. This was Gray, how much trouble could he really be in? He could take care of himself, would probably yell at him for interfering. Except the last mage that was attacked was masered and killed and this guy said that Gray was bleeding out, his mind supplied helpfully. That wouldn't happen to Gray. Gray was young, he was strong, he was capable. He started to feel a little guilty realizing that some of these thoughts were probably similar to the things that Gray had been thinking when he had been missing. He really should have let someone know where he was. He became more and more angry. Those bastards better not lay a finger on his Gray unless they wanted to face the wrath of a dragon. Wait, what? Did he just say his Gray? Ugh, focus. You're about to go into battle, you've managed to spend most of your life not thinking now is not a good time to start. Ok , just breathe. Don't think about Gray, think about all the asses that you're going to kick.

Beside him Rogue looked completely calm and focused, although if you knew him well you could see the tension behind the calm façade, could recognize the cold fury that burned in his eyes. The shadows that roiled around him made him look like a harbinger of death and that did not bode well for anyone stupid enough to stand in between him and his mate.

Natsu sped up leaving Koen behind as his nose caught Gray's familiar scent and what was more worrisome, lots and lots of his blood.

"Snowflake?", he called out when he couldn't find him right away. Rogue was still somewhere behind him.

"Look who finally made it!", Sting said cheerfully although weakly. He wouldn't admit it but these guys were getting some damn good hits in now that Gray had almost passed out from what he could only imagine was blood loss. Head injuries were a bitch.

"I can't even leave you alone for a few minutes", Rogue said from the shadows, his body mostly incorporeal at this point. "Care to tell me which of these gentlemen did this to you?"

"Flame Brain?", a voice came out of the alley. It was weak but the owner seemed alert. Natsu followed the sound to find Gray slumped against one of the alley's walls still trying to fight even though he could no longer hold himself up. It was not a bad idea, at the very least it protected his rear from attack.

"I'm here, be a good princess and just hang on for a few minutes while Rogue and I take care of these guys.", Natsu said as he tried not to notice how much blood was covering the other's body, "We'll get you some help, ok?"

"Not a princess", Gray protested," Natsu…. so tired."

"Rogue, how many?"

"Six… Well, five now."

Natsu started with the one that was holding the lead pipe that smelled like Gray's blood.

"Fire Dragon: Roar"

The man screeched as the pipe liquified in his hands and he fell to the ground, struggling to rip his mask off before it could finish adhering to his skin from the heat.

"Stay down asshole, that was just a warning shot. I don't usually use magic against non mages but the fact that you are willing to beat up on 14 year old boys is making me reconsider that rule."

Gray looked at Natsu from his position, he couldn't remember the last time he had seen him so angry. He looked like a beautiful wild animal that was hunting its prey. He looked behind Natsu and thought he saw something in the distance but it was too far for him to make out. The blood that continued to try to seep into his eyes made it difficult for him to see. His eyes kept trying to close on him but he fought the drowsiness. He needed to see what it was.

Rogue made his way towards the man standing over Sting. All the shadows in the alley seemed to gather behind him and the man couldn't decide if they were shuddering in agony or writhing in anticipation for feasting on him, but he could clearly see his doom written in Rogue's eyes as his body dissolved into those shadows and he wrapped himself around the man. "Shadow Dragon: Waxwing Flash" Rogue cast his spell dispassionately and the man screamed, first in terror then in pain as he felt countless shadows curl around his body and then draw away, peeling small slices of his skin with them. Rogue appeared behind him, solid only long enough to throw a shadow sleeved uppercut into the man's gut.

The man coughed, groaned and said with a stammer, "Wh-who - what are you?"

"Who I am is not important, what's important to know is that you should never attack a dragon's mate.", Rogue said coldly already casting his next attack "Shadow Dragon: Slash". His arm lengthened into a shadowy whip which he used to lash the man several times until at last with a final whimper, the beaten form crumpled to the ground.

"Hey love?", Sting said, "Not that I'm not enjoying watching you go all dark and protective but you might want to go faster, there's still three others and some of them have masers."

"I wouldn't worry about the masers.", Rogue said confidently with a brief reassuring smile at Sting as he felt a pair of probes sail harmlessly through his incorporeal body and ping harmlessly against the wall, "You can't catch what you can't touch, but thanks for the warning." His smile then went as dark as the shadows massing about him as he turned find his next victim.

Natsu stood in front of Gray, the polar opposite to Rogue's impassiveness. He was all fury, his flames burning hotter to match his mood as he picked his next target. The heat was almost overwhelming to the already weakened ice mage.

"Natsu, too hot!", Gray uttered as best he could, his brain was beginning to slow down, "Too much."

"Oh, sorry.", Natsu answered as he moved further away.

With Natsu no longer in his field of vision he was able to see the object again, it was getting closer. It was a person, and they seemed to be running. Gray blinked his eyes trying to help them focus on the person that was coming.

Natsu's right hand ignited as he cast his next spell "Fire Dragon: Crushing Fang". He swung his hand in an arc striking the assailant with his fingertips. The man took the brunt of the blow and began to scream as his clothes caught on fire. The remaining two men tried to edge their way to the alley's entrance using the shadows to hide.

They realized the severity of their mistake and paled as suddenly, Rogue's sinister laugh echoed all about them and the shadows they previously looked to for safety opened countless glowing red eyes and hungry mouths. They knew there was no hope of escape and little hope of mercy even as they screamed for it, but Rogue had no intention of letting them off easy. They had hurt his beloved and they were in his domain now. His shadows enveloped them with a cacophony of hungry snarls which could not fully muffle their screams. After a few moments, Rogue's vicious smile faded as he turned and headed back over to Sting. His shadows quickly followed him, revealing the two men, unconscious, clothing torn, and covered in small scratches and bite marks.

As Rogue knelt next to Sting, the shadows which only moments ago were things of nightmares now became a soothing and cool blanket which wrapped tenderly around his mate and comforted him. The malice in Rogue's face replaced with concern and care.

Sting looked up at him and grinned, "I warned them there'd be hell to pay. You're one scary dude but I love you."

Rogue just smiled.

"Fire Dragon:-"

"NATSU, GET DOWN!", Gray yelled as loud as he could but unfortunately it sounded louder in his aching head than it did to Natsu. Still, he was a dragon slayer and he heard the warning but did not react fast enough. He felt a pair of pricks in his back as his body became rigid but not as much as you would expect since he was able to channel electricity thanks to Laxus. He tried to get an attack out before the device began to drain his magic.

"Lightning Fire Dragon: Roar"

He slowly turned and aimed his spell in the direction from which he was attacked but they had already moved. He turned again trying to find his assailant only to see Suki aiming a magic pistol at him.

Gray panicked and slowly got up from his position against the wall. He got into his maker molding stance and with the last of his energy cast the only spell he could think off that would protect Natsu until Rogue could help him. He only hoped Natsu's body heat didn't work against it.

"Ice Make: Cocoon"

Natsu's body became covered in ice, spikes jutting in every direction as Suki screamed in frustration at having her quarry taken away from her. She shot at the ice anyway but the bullets bounced off of it, chipping little pieces of ice in the process. Gray collapsed, keeping himself awake by sheer willpower. He need to keep his spell up so he could keep Natsu safe. He wouldn't let anyone hurt the man he loved.

Suki soon turned her gun on Gray.

"If you're going to get in my way, I suppose I'll have to kill you instead."

Strong arms caged her from behind pinning her arms to her sides as she struggled against him gun still in hand.

"That's enough!", Koen bellowed, "You have hurt enough people, Suki."

 _Flashback_

" _Suki, I have something I need to talk to you about.", her father said when he found her._

 _They both sat down in one of their home's large couches._

" _What's the matter daddy?", Suki looked into her father's eyes trustingly even as she saw the suitcases that were littering their large foyer._

" _I'm afraid I have to go. I won't be living with you and mommy anymore."_

" _But why? Don't you love me anymore?", Suki began to cry._

" _Don't ever say that monkey.", he picked her up and placed her in his lap wrapping his arms around her protectively, "I know you won't be able to understand this very well now, but I loved you before you were even born. I wanted you so much that I tried to deny who I was and for a long time it worked."_

" _I don't understand.", Suki said desperately, "What do you mean deny who you are? Is this about mommy, is she making you leave?"_

" _Suki, you need to understand none of this is your mother's fault.", her father said seriously, "It was me. I convinced myself that I loved her because I wanted a family, I wanted you."_

" _But I can't do it anymore, not to her and not to myself.", her father sighed, "I had to tell her the truth. She has asked me to tell you the truth as well."_

" _When love happens it can happen between any two people, remember that monkey. A lot of people love someone of the opposite gender but others fall in love with people that are like themselves. I am one of those people."_

" _I have fallen in love with someone and it is my hope that someday you will meet him and love him as well, but I know that will not happen soon and that's ok.", he said calmly._

" _I know you will be angry with me and sad and that's ok too but I hope when you are done with all that you realize that even though I may seem different to you right now I am and always have been the same person.", he groaned in frustration, "I wish you were a little older right now, I don't really know how much of this you are really understanding."_

" _Daddy!", Suki wailed. "Please don't leave me with her, take me with you!"_

" _I'm sorry, monkey. I can't.", her father said fighting back tears of his own, "If I took you with me I would be arrested and you would end up back here anyway."_

" _I will come visit as often as I can", he promised, "and I will write you letters. Would you like that?"_

" _Daddy?", Suki asked trying to calm down so she could enjoy her last minutes with her father, "Do you love him more than me?"_

" _No baby, I could never love anyone more than you.", her father told her before he hugged her tightly and walked out of her life forever._

 _Little did either of them know that Suki's mother had heard the entire conversation. She felt used and betrayed by the man she had called husband for 10 years. She felt betrayed by Suki for asking her father if she could go with him to get away from her. She looked at Suki and all she could see was a tool to hurt the man she had loved, who had never loved her back._

 _Suki's childish request created a very unhappy life for her. A life that consisted of her mother imprinting her bitterness and newfound hatred of homosexuals onto Suki. She kept Suki's father away from her using any means possible, burned all letters before Suki could see them and drafted up some of her own that she knew would devastate the girl. Suki held on to her father for as long as she could but after his neverending absence she gave up and eventually came to believe and espouse everything her mother ingrained in her._

 _End Flashback_

"Don't you dare touch me with your filthy hands!", Suki screamed at Koen as she continued to struggle against his hold. "You freak!"

Suki felt a sharp sting as her face was slapped roughly by the gauntleted hand of a red haired armored woman who was surrounded by a terrifying dark aura and appeared to have glowing red eyes . She seemed to be trembling with some emotion as she barked, "No one here is interested in anything you have to say. Now, shut the hell up or I'll knock you out myself."

Erza removed the gun from Suki's hand and restrained her with some cuffs. She handed some cuffs to Rogue and Juvia so they could restrain the remaining assailants. Juvia was confused to see the men shying away from Rogue.

"Lucy can you run back to Pegasus and ask Master Bob to contact the Rune Knights, I believe we have completed our mission."

"Wait, this was your job?", Sting yelled, "Gray and Natsu I'm so gonna kick both your asses after this. You could have warned us, you bastards!"

Gajeel looked around for someone to fight but they were already all down. He was disappointed to have missed all the action. He saw Gray and ran over to him, "Hey, Ice Prick, are you ok?"

Gray heard Gajeel's voice and finally allowed himself to let go, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he succumbed to unconsciousness. The cocoon that surrounded Natsu dissolved into sparkling nothingness.

"Gray?", Gajeel yelled. He shook him gently but received no response."Shit, he needs a healer."

"Gajeel, take him back to Pegasus. They have one there.", Erza commanded.

He nodded and picked up the ice mage gently making sure not to jostle him as he ran. Juvia went with him to make sure Gray was ok.

The rest of them waited in silence for the Rune Knights to come and collect the prisoners. Master Bob had sent Hibiki and Ren over to check on the mages. Once the prisoners were in the Knights' custody they transported Sting and Natsu back to the Pegasus guild. They were both suffering from Magic Deficiency Disease due to the maser's rapid drain of their magic.

Erza entered the room where Andre and his family waited.

"Is it really over?", Rika asked.

"It's over.", Erza assured her, "We were able to get everybody."

"Thank you so much!", Rika said as she smiled at her son hoping that this information would help with his nightmares.

"Where are Natsu and Gray?", Andre asked once he realized the mages were not anywhere to be found.

"They were hurt in the fight, but they should be fine. They are both very strong.", Erza said, "They're being healed in the infirmary.

Bob was all smiles as he entered the room carrying several bottles of champagne. He opened one and began distributing glasses around to all the room's occupants.

He raised his glass up in the air in a toast. "To Fairy Tail, who came in to protect those who would be ignored by the authorities and to Andre who was brave enough to help us stop them from doing it to anyone else."

A chorus of "Cheers" was heard throughout the room. Bob raised one last silent toast to his friend 'Stefan, I hope this will give you peace. I miss you old friend.'

He made his way over to Erza, "I called Maki to tell him the news. We will be transporting all of you back on the Christina as soon as Gray is ready to be moved. Our healer will accompany you there but we're not really equipped to deal with the types of injuries they have. Porlyusica will be there waiting when you arrive."

ooooo

A/N If Rogue seems extra badass, and he is, you can thank my hubs for it. Reason # I lost count for why he is awesome and I love him. He wanted to play with Rogue and his shadows *grin* There should be only one chapter left.

Yes, Suki is evil but she wasn't always so. At one point she was good and sweet and she was betrayed by someone who should have loved her most of all for the sake of exacting revenge on the man she had loved. It makes me rather sad because Suki loved her father very much and her mother's selfishness and hatred took him away from her and turned her into a monster. Does it excuse her behavior? No at all but none of us is born with hatred it is a behavior or attitude that is very much learned through our interactions with the world around us. Had Suki been allowed to continue her relationship with her father I feel she would have grown to be a much different person.


	13. Sometimes You Just Have To Let Go

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima, all others belong to me.

Chapter 13: Sometimes You Just Have To Let Go (Saturday and Beyond)

The trip back on the Christina was uneventful, all three of the patients were unconscious so only Gajeel and Rogue had to deal with their motion sickness. All of them were worried about Gray, he had not woken up since passing out in the alley. The healer had been able to stabilize him somewhat but they were all anxious to get him back to Fairy Tail to the capable hands of Porlyusica and Wendy.

Saturday proved to be a very hectic day for the Fairy Tail guild. Master Bob brought the million jewel reward personally the next day. He wanted to check on Sting, Gray and Natsu's progress. He informed Team Natsu and Sting and Rogue that as long as he was master of Blue Pegasus their money would be no good there, even Natsu.

Members of the Magic Council also arrived wanting to question the mages on the events of the previous night, having been alerted to their use of magic on non-mages by the Rune Knights. They had no luck, the only mage they could talk to was Rogue and he refused to leave Sting's side, even Porlyusica had given up on getting him out of the infirmary.

Jason showed up for the exclusive he had been promised by Erza as he had been informed of the previous night's events by the Blue Pegasus mages when he showed up looking for Natsu and Gray. He quickly postponed their interview and photo shoot to give them time to recover from their injuries. He decided to run with another story for this week's issue and he began to collect information on the attack and how Fairy Tail and Sabertooth had put a stop to it. He spent hours getting the details from Erza, Lucy and Rogue, whom he joined in the infirmary, They also pointed him towards Koen who had witnessed more of the attack than any of them. They purposefully did not tell him about Andre choosing to protect the boy from any more attention and promised to let him know when the others awoke. He left in search of Koen determined to have this be the biggest story of his career.

Sting, Gray and Natsu were still unconscious, although Porlyusica anticipated the dragon slayers would regain consciousness soon. Sting had a lot of other injuries that would require him to be awake to heal properly. Natsu had made his magic drain worse by casting such a strong spell as his Lightning Fire Dragon Roar, it had allowed the maser to drain him of more of his magic than would have normally been possible. It would take him days to fully recover even with Porlyusica's potions.

Natsu woke up late Saturday afternoon feeling weak but otherwise ok. Porlyusica had demanded he stay in bed for another day to recuperate and let her potions have a chance to work. It was now Monday and he currently sat at Gray's bedside holding his hand under the watchful eye of the healer, who seemed to expect Natsu to attack her patient at any moment. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was trying to will Gray awake but the stubborn idiot refused to cooperate with him as usual.

Natsu sighed. When did things get so damn complicated? When he'd run into that alley to rescue Gray he had been worried of what he would find and somehow, even with all his injuries the ice mage had kept fighting, had even ironically ended up rescuing him although that part was a little hazy for him. He still hadn't made much sense of what had happened, all he knew was how he felt when Gray had surrounded him with his ice. Instead of being cold and uncomfortable it had felt like he was being embraced by Gray himself. The ice had an odd quality that was all Gray and he couldn't say he didn't like it, he had felt safe and protected and…..loved. All the things that he he hadn't felt since Igneel had left and they had come from the person he had least expected. He also felt guilty, full of the knowledge that had he not once again been so busy running away from his feelings neither Sting nor Gray would have been put in a position to get hurt. He hoped Rogue was not too angry with him.

Once he had been cleared by Porlyusica, Natsu had gone downstairs. The mission was finally over and he was back at his beloved guild but instead of everything being back to normal like he wanted all he could see was Gray. Everywhere he looked there was a memory of the ice mage. Gray drinking, eating, fighting, stripping, laughing. It wasn't just in the guild. He walked outside and it was much of the same. They had spent seven years growing up together in Magnolia. They'd fought almost continually with words and fists, competed endlessly over anything and everything which was their version of playing and in the process they had made each other stronger. In those seven years they'd developed a relationship that was now at risk and Natsu was faced with a difficult decision.

He made his way to his home and didn't come out until the next day. He sent Happy to the guild to get updates on Gray's condition every few hours and the Exceed did so not knowing what had happened between the two but sensing that something had changed. Sting and Rogue came to visit before they went back to Sabertooth and Sting was able to fill him in on what had happened after he had run off. Natsu apologized to him for not warning him about the attacks and for pretending to be gay. Sting shrugged it off and said that he could make it up to him by treating them to the dinner they had missed, once Gray was better. He was well aware of Gray's feelings for his friend and he had hope that even though Rogue refused to tell him what he knew about Natsu's feelings with a little push they might still end up together. He could wait for Gratsu to become a reality, he grinned internally at the ridiculous name he had come up with for them. His head still full of plans.

Early Tuesday morning Natsu had packed his things and he and Happy stopped at the guild. Mira watched silently from the kitchen as Natsu went upstairs to check on Gray, who had yet to awaken. He sat with him for an hour holding his hand and running his fingers through Gray's hair as he slumbered on. When he could not stand to see him this way any longer he leaned in and kissed the ice mage's forehead.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. I promise we'll talk soon." Natsu leaned in one last time and kissed Gray's lips softly. "Goodbye, please be awake when I get back.", he pleaded. He gave the ice mage's hand one last squeeze before he left as quietly as he had arrived. Happy had watched Natsu carefully and thought he finally understood what was happening. He thought about teasing the fire mage but something told him it would not be a good idea at the moment.

Mira watched Natsu and Happy leave. No one seemed to know what was going on between the two rivals. When the magazine had first come out they had all been excited by the news. There had been some jeers but mostly cheers and of course Juvia had immediately lost it and flooded the guild. Soon after it had dawned on some of them that Team Natsu had left to perform a job that was off books and perhaps this had something to do with it but Mira and many others hoped that it was true. Both boys had been through a lot in their lives, everyone knew that even if they didn't show it they were lonely and truth be told they never seemed to pay attention to anyone except each other. What was that saying? Negative attention is better than no attention at all? Yes, Mira thought that was it. She wondered where Natsu was going as he had not picked any mission and was banned from active duty for a few more days. He was certainly not in need of money. The master had divided the reward between the four mages. Natsu and Gray each received 375 thousand jewels, while Lucy and Erza got 125 thousand jewels. Mira could only hope that he didn't do something he would come to regret. Natsu did not handle feelings well. She could still remember how he had reacted when they had thought Lisanna had died and how long it had taken him to get back to normal.

Gray finally came to on Wednesday although he almost wished he hadn't. His head hurt like hell and he had trouble putting thoughts together, when he talked he sounded almost drunk. It was very disconcerting. He watched Porlyusica examine him and was struck by a sudden wave of sadness. Something about her hair, he thought, but just when he thought he had made a connection the thought was gone again.

When she finished her examination Porlyusica left the room to inform Makarov of his progress. Soon after the door of the infirmary opened and four girls came in. They all looked familiar but their names escaped him at the moment. He was happy to see them but at the same time he was disappointed. There was someone missing. It wasn't that he wasn't happy to see Erza, Lucy, Cana and Juvia it's just that they weren't….who?

'That's right, those are their names', he thought happily.

He let them fawn over him as he struggled to find the missing person his mind refused to let him see. Others came to visit and he was able to remember most of them although some of their names were still evading him. Not wanting to insult anyone he gave them temporary nicknames in his mind, things like guy who smokes all the time, girl with purple hair, and his personal favorite weird dancing dude. He had a feeling that it would all come back to him soon, he just had to be patient. He'd had plenty of head injuries in the past from jobs and all the fighting he did with…...dammit, it was almost there. He fell asleep soon after, exhausted from fighting with his brain. His other injuries also contributing to his fatigue.

The next time he awoke there was a name that came to him, Natsu. He thought about the name and an image came to his mind of a pink haired boy with a beautiful smile and a fiery disposition. He smiled, that's who he had been looking for yesterday. The events that had led him to the infirmary were still a mystery to him but he instinctively knew that Natsu had something to do with them. He thought that maybe Porlyusica had asked his friends not to talk about what had happened until he began to remember on his own and he was struggling with the things he did remember. He wondered why Natsu had not come to visit him. He began to worry that maybe something happened to him that they didn't want him to know. He determined to ask Lucy or Erza when they came to visit.

It was Erza who came in with his breakfast, once she had helped him sit up to eat it she sat down in one of the chairs near his bed.

"Erza, where's Natsu?", he asked trying not to show how important the answer was to him, "Is he ok?"

"He's fine. Porlyusica let him go home on Monday.", Erza thought for a moment about how to phrase her next words. She'd been wondering why he hadn't asked about Natsu yet, "Mira said she saw him leave with Happy on Tuesday after coming to visit you."

Gray filed away the happiness that had filled him when he heard that the flame brain had come to see him for later analysis. "Is he on a job?"

"He's banned from active duty at the moment, as are you.", Erza said as she shrugged trying to make it seem like Natsu being gone was nothing for Gray to worry about, "It's been awhile since he's gone to look for Igneel, maybe he decided now would be a good time. You shouldn't worry about him, worry about getting better instead."

"So, he's gone?", Gray asked and he wondered why his heart hurt upon learning that information. What have I forgotten?

"For now.", Erza agreed, "I'm not worried. He'll be back when he's ready. If he doesn't we'll find him and drag him back, we're his home after all."

Gray nodded slowly, that sounded right.

"How are you feeling?", Erza asked trying to change the subject, "You gave us quite a scare."

Gray thought about the question before answering. "I'm ok, I guess. I'm having trouble remembering things. I still can't remember what happened to get me here but I'm beginning to get images in my mind, like disjointed pieces of a puzzle I can't quite put together yet. I can't help but feel that some of it has to do with Natsu somehow. When I hadn't seen him I thought that maybe he had…..", he paused not being able to say the word and then decided to rephrase instead, " that something had happened to him."

"Wendy and Porlyusica have healed everything else at this point. I should be able to go home soon."

"That's good news.", Erza said. She stayed for as long as Porlyusica allowed.

"What was wrong with Natsu?", he asked the healer a few hours later.

She looked down at him from her examination of his head. "Why don't you tell me what you remember?"

He frowned at her in frustration. She gave him the same answer every time he asked her anything.

"We were doing a job at Blue Pegasus. Something about attacks. Natsu and I were pretending something…...but we weren't good at it. There was a young boy and Juvia was crying. Natsu ran away and he was in danger. Sting and Rogue were there and we were dancing? There was an alley and…. ", he could never get farther than that, "Ugh! Why won't you just tell me?"

"It'll come, your brain will tell you when you're ready.", she soothed, "You're remembering more every day. Now get some rest." She left him alone with his thoughts and finally he fell asleep.

That night he had a dream, all the puzzle pieces finally clicked together. He and his team had been doing a job at Blue Pegasus. They had to stop a group of people attacking gay men leaving the club. Natsu and he were pretending to be a couple and somewhere along the way Gray had fallen in love with Natsu. Gray had kissed him and Natsu had run off again. Rogue went after him while he stayed with Sting. Koen had kept him at the club longer and Sting went off on his own to get them a table at the restaurant they were going to have dinner at. He left Koen at the club and went to meet up with Sting but he heard a noise and Sting was in trouble, he had been masered and was being attacked. Gray tried to protect him but he was distracted from being tired so he was attacked as well. He was bleeding and he had sent Koen back to the club for help. He had fought with his magic for as long as he could, trying to keep Sting safe while fighting off several attackers. They had gotten in some hits while he was focusing on Sting. He was running out of magic and he had pressed himself against a wall so that they couldn't surprise him from behind. Natsu and Rogue showed up and began to attack the men. They were both furious. Natsu was vicious while you couldn't even see Rogue as he used the shadows to his advantage but someone was coming their way. He tried to warn Natsu but he was too late and Natsu got masered by that girl from the club. He could still somewhat move around though which had surprised Gray until he remembered that Natsu now had a lightning attribute, thanks to eating Laxus' lightning on Tenrou Island. Natsu attacked blindly and missed. Gray saw the girl aim a gun at Natsu and used his last energy to save the man he loved. The girl turned the gun on him but nothing happened. He held on until he knew Natsu was safe. Then he woke up in Fairy Tail and Natsu was gone.

Gray woke up. He began to remember more details as he thought about his dream. It was Friday, a full week since the attack and Natsu was still not back.

'I guess that means he's made his decision', Gray thought bitterly. 'Where does that leave us now?'

He wanted to get out of there, wanted to go home and mourn what would never be. He would never force Natsu to do anything he didn't want but Gray was angyr that Natsu had not had the courage to tell him how he felt, choosing instead to run away once again. Gray was getting very tired of that.

He waited for Porlyusica to come check on him and hoped that she would let him leave. They had been doing some exercises during the week and he had regained all of his balance. His headaches were minimal and his pupils were back to normal. The rest of his physical injuries had already been healed. Now that he had recovered his memories he couldn't think of another reason for her to keep him there. Thankfully she agreed and he was out of there by noon before anyone returned from their jobs. He stopped to buy some quick groceries and headed home.

He didn't cry like he thought he might, he just felt empty and sad. He allowed himself to think about everything that had happened the previous week, choosing to deal with it all at once rather than his preferred method of repression. He figured it would be healthier, as long as they were both members of Fairy Tail he would have to continue crossing paths with Natsu. As much as it hurt at the moment he would rather have Natsu as a friend than not at all. He just hoped that Natsu felt the same way. At least Gray had never told him that he loved him, that probably would have made things more awkward than they already would be. Since he was already miserable he spent the rest of the day catching up on household chores he had been avoiding.

He woke up on Saturday morning with a groan as he remembered that Erza had said he was supposed to meet up with Jason at the guild. The reporter had been waiting for him to be well enough to be able to answer questions about the attack. He had already interviewed everyone else. Gray wasn't in the mood to answer any questions having to do with the Blue Pegasus job but if he tried to get out of it Erza would just find him and drag him there and Jason, as much as he had disliked the magazine article, had gone out of his way to try to help them. He forced himself to get out of bed and get ready for the day. He took a shower and got dressed and made his way over to the guild determined to get the stupid interview over with as quickly as possible. Erza had sat with them listening to his answers and when Gray saw her face he decided to get out of town for a bit. He had no desire to have any additional conversations on the matter. He ordered her a piece of strawberry cake and waited until she was distracted eating it. He pretended to go to the bathroom and then quickly left the guild and made his way to the train station. He headed to the last place he thought anyone would ever look for him.

Bob looked up surprised to have a customer so early in the day.

"Gray? What brings you here?", he asked in surprise, "I would think this was the last place you would want to be."

"Kind of why I'm here." He'd grown to like the Blue Pegasus master during his time at the club.

"How's the boyfriend?"

"He's not.", Gray said drily.

"I'm sorry to hear that.", Bob said honestly, he thought the boys were good together.

"You and me both."

"Have you eaten lunch already?'

Gray shook his head and Bob had him come to the kitchen with him as he prepared a meal for them. They talked for awhile about Gray's recovery and Bob reminisced a bit about his time at Fairy Tail.

Gray looked at the guild master and asked carefully, "Can I ask why you left? It sounds like you really enjoyed it."

Bob considered him as he carried their plates to a booth and got them some beer from the bar. Finally he shrugged and decided there was no harm in telling him.

'Porlyusica would probably kill me if she knew I was giving you alcohol right now", Bob grinned mischievously, "but there's no way I can tell this story without it."

They ate as Bob told Gray his story.

"I did love my time at Fairy Tail. It was a lot of fun and we were a lot like you guys are now. Full of energy and mischief, too powerful and destructive for our own good. We had a great team. Maki, Rob, Yaj, Goldmine, Porlyusica and myself. There was no job too big for us.", he smiled fondly.

"They all knew my orientation and they were very accepting. There was no awkwardness, it was never a problem. Then one day I found myself falling in love with a teammate, it happened almost without my knowledge. It was certainly not my intention but that's love for you, you don't really have any control over who you love. To make matters worse the man I fell in love with was straight. There was no way it was going to happen for me but he wasn't in a relationship and everything moved on as normal. He didn't know how I felt and I had no intention of telling him."

"It went on like that for a few years and the pain and loneliness was bearable because he was alone and when we all went out and he gave me attention I could pretend, you see. I realize now that I should have taken steps to extricate myself from the situation but I was still fairly young and naive. To make matters worse he started dating Porlyusica who was also a very good friend."

Gray tried to imagine anyone dating Porlyusica, she was beautiful even now but her personality was terrifying.

"I can see what you're thinking but she wasn't always like she is now. She was actually rather sweet back then and she was one of my best friends so of course she would share with me details of her relationship. What could I say? Please don't confide in me, I'm in love with your boyfriend.", Bob snorted, "I was happy for them but at the same time I was miserable. I found myself getting short with them while we were on jobs."

"I resigned from the team and began taking solo missions, the longer and harder the better. They continued on without me and that hurt most of all but looking back now what else were they supposed to do? Sometimes some of the other guys would ask me to go on jobs with them for old time's sakes and I would. I finally confessed my feelings for my love to one of them and he told me he had already figured it out. He was the one that suggested I might want to leave because my love and Porlyusica were getting married and things would probably get worse for me before they got any better. I thought about what he said and I took his advice. I traveled for a few months and returned for the wedding. After that I decided to start a guild of my own. A place where any mage could feel welcome even if they did not have a type of magic that would work well with your typical job request. I was tired of fighting by this point you see. That, my dear IceMan, is the sad tale of how Blue Pegasus came to be.", Bob grinned cheekily at Gray.

"I never told him how I felt and after some years I was able to put it all behind me and find a happiness of sorts with someone else. The man who was killed in the attack actually. His name was Stefan and we were together for many years and remained friends long after our relationship was no more."

Gray thought about Bob's story and hoped that it didn't come to that for him. He couldn't imagine his life without Fairy Tail.

"Were you able to stay friends after you left?"

"It took awhile but we were eventually able to rekindle our friendship.", Bob said as he got up. He cleared their table and put the plates back in the kitchen. He moved to the bar and refiled their drinks from the tap. "Now, do you want to regale me with your sad tale?"

"There's not much to tell.", Gray said, "Boy knows other boy for a very long time. Boy takes on a job that has them pretending to be a couple. Boy falls in love with other boy. Other boy runs away any time anything happens that could further their relationship. Boy risks his life to protect other boy, Other boy runs away before the boy wakes up from his head injury. The End. I was just fooling myself that we could be anything more than what we have always been.", Gray said as he finished his second beer.

"Well, you're welcome to stick around for as long as you want. You're always welcome here and if you ever feel it gets to be too much there's always a place for you at Blue Pegasus.", Bob said knowingly.

"Thanks."

Customers and members began to come in to the club and Bob became busy so Gray just hung out and people watched. He talked to a few girls who flirted with him but he found he wasn't ready yet. He was looking at the bottom of his empty cup when Bob gave him another refill and a note. Gray looked up at the guild master in confusion. Bob gave him an encouraging smile so Gray looked down at the note and read it, His eyes widened in disbelief.

 _Found a boyfriend yet, Ice Princess?_

Gray looked around for Natsu but didn't see him anywhere. No one else called him that though. He decided to reply the same way as last time.

 _Sadly no. Are you offering?_

He handed his reply to Bob and watched as he left the bar with it. He shrugged and drank some of his beer. He anxiously waited for Bob to return with a reply but when the guild master returned he was empty handed. Gray sighed and continued to drink his beer. He was so pathetic for allowing himself to get his hopes up.

He felt a warmth beside him and looked up to see a very nervous looking Natsu holding his response in his hand. He dropped it on the bar like it could bite at any second. Gray looked down to read it,

 _Yes_

Gray looked back at Natsu who had turned a rather interesting shade of red. The ice mage was very confused.

"I don't understand, you ran away again."

"I didn't run away, Gray. It was my birthday, I had somewhere I needed to be and you hadn't woken up yet.", Natsu said.

"How did you find me?", Gray asked.

"I looked for you everywhere. After I talked to Erza I realized that you didn't want to be found and I figured you would go to the last place that anyone would look for you so I came here and I saw you at the bar. I was too nervous to talk to you at first so Bob suggested I try the note thing again."

Gray grinned, they really did know each other entirely too well.

"Look, I'll be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing but if you still want me I would like to give this a try because I don't think I want to go back to the way things were.", Natsu looked at Gray his eyes big and earnest.

Gray found he couldn't stop smiling, "Are you sure about this?"

Natsu smiled at Gray and leaned in to kiss him. Gray felt Natsu's lips on his and kissed him back. They separated and smiled at each other.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing either ", Gray told Natsu, "but we can figure it out together."

"So, I bumped into Sting and Rogue on the way here. It seems they were trying to go to that restaurant again and they wanted to know if you wanted to go on a double date. For real this time."

Gray laughed, "I suppose we owe it to them, since we almost got Sting killed last time."

Natsu scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, well there's that, but next date we go on I want you all to myself."

Gray nodded, "I'd like that too."

"He said yes!", Natsu said loudly.

Sting and Rogue came out of one of the private rooms and a loud pop could be heard coming from the bar behind them. Bob had opened a bottle of champagne and poured the bubbling liquid into five flutes. All five men grabbed one and drank to celebrate the new couple. As their friends wished them luck on their new adventure Gray snorted as he was hit by a thought.

"What's so funny, Ice Block?", Natsu asked him.

"I never thought you'd be right.", Gray said,

"I'm often right,", Natsu smirked, "What was I right about?"

"Gay, it does mean happy."

Natsu and Gray both smiled and kissed again before intertwining their fingers and joining the Twin Dragons on their quest to put a poor unsuspecting all you can eat restaurant out of business. Sting walked hand in hand with his beloved, his mind already full of future plans for the foursome.

 _Flashback_

 _Natsu and Happy arrived at their destination. A few years back, on one of his trips to find Igneel Natsu had found what he was pretty sure was the cave he used to live in with his dragon father hidden among a range of mountains. Since his discovery, every year he made the two day pilgrimage to spend his birthday, which was really the anniversary of when Igneel had found him, there. It made him feel closer to Igneel somehow._

" _Hi Igneel", Natsu said nervously, "It's that time again, I'm another year older. I'm sorry I didn't come for awhile but I was sort of stuck on an island for the last six years. A lot has happened since I got back._

 _Natsu continued talking excitedly, telling Igneel about everything that had happened since he had returned from Tenrou Island, Happy listened quietly as he cuddled with his dragon slayer. Among other things he told Igneel about opening his second origin, the Grand Magic Games, meeting Sting and Rogue, and fighting alongside Atlas. He talked for hours until there was only one thing left for him to tell his father._

" _That brings me to the other reason I'm here.", he said with some sadness, "I'm sorry, but I can't look for you anymore. I don't know why you left me, maybe I'll never know. I do know that you loved me and if you had to go it must have been important._

" _I can't keep living in the past. I have to let you go so I can start moving forward like the others._

 _I think I might be in love and I'm scared because he might leave me too, but I have to try because I don't want to be the child who is afraid of being abandoned forever. You taught me to be strong and to look to the future and that's exactly what I'm going to do._

" _Maybe someday you'll find me, sometimes it feels like you're so close.", Natsu said with frustration, "But even if you never do, I want to thank you. Thank you for finding me and taking care of me, for teaching me magic and most of all for loving me when no one else did. I love you, Dad. A part of you will always live inside me. I only wish I could have seen you one more time."_

 _Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, but he didn't mind. He had not expected letting go would be easy. He had many good memories, and he spent a while in silence, just reminiscing. After all, a boy and his dragon could get into a lot of mischief! When he was ok to talk again he shared a few of those stories with Happy, and they laughed together in easy camaraderie before snuggling into Natsu's bedroll and falling asleep. They would leave early in the morning to get back to Fairy Tail, it was time to talk to Gray, assuming he had already woken up. Natsu didn't know what his future held but even if things didn't work out with Gray he knew that letting go of Igneel was the right thing to do. He had to start living his life._

 _End Flashback_

 **THE END**

A/N I don't know if I will ever manage to write another story that excites people as much this one seemed to but I'm glad I managed it at least once. This story has been such a positive experience for me. I am humbled by all the attention it received. Thank you so much for all your comments, reviews, follows, favorites and kudos. This story was even able to help me through one of the saddest experiences in my life, the loss of my beloved cat Ellie.

I no longer remember where the idea for this story came from I just know that it was just supposed to be a silly little thing with not much thought given to the mission aspect at all but somehow with all your interest it forced me to get my act together and organize my thoughts well enough to turn it from a collection of gags to an actual story. I hope that I did my job well and you derived some enjoyment from reading it. Please let me know what you thought. I am still learning my way around writing stories and would like to know what you liked and what I could have done better. If you find you like my writing my next project will be the second part of my long fic To Kill A Dragon.


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